Prerequisites: None

Exam Type: No Exam

Knowledge institutions include a free press, colleges and universities, libraries, NGOs that collect and disseminate objective data, and government offices that collect and disseminate objective data. What are common characteristics (if any) of knowledge institutions? How do their roles differ? Are their roles in representative democracies different from their roles in other systems of governance? How should, how does the U.S. protect knowledge institutions? How do other constitutional democracies protect knowledge institutions? U.S. constitutionalists have long been familiar with the centrality of rights of freedom of speech, association and of the free press, to the well-functioning of its representative democracy. But knowledge institutions include public as well as private entities, government offices like the Census Bureau, the EPA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, statistical offices in various departments, the CDC. We might also consider whether courts should be considered knowledge institutions, to the extent that they provide determinations of facts in legal disputes based on a set of disciplinary procedures. What about legislative bodies to the extent that they engage in formalized findings of facts? Social media and other communications technologies? This reading group provides an opportunity to theorize connections among different knowledge institutions that cut across existing legal categories and explore how constitutional democracies, including the United States, could better protect the epistemic roles of knowledge institutions.

Note: This reading group will meet on the following dates: TBD.