About Law 718, Section 1 (Summer 2011)
Course Description:
Evidence law is about the limits we place on the information juries
hear. This course examines these limits, their boundaries, their ambiguities,
and how they work in practice. We will attempt to master the Federal
Rules of Evidence. It is essential to know what the Rules say and how
judges enforce them. It is just as important to know when the meaning
of a rule is unclear and on what grounds courts decide close calls.
We will also address some policy issues, such as: Why have evidence
rules anyway? Why should we put limits on the information juries hear?
This course centers around the Federal Rules of Evidence, which govern
in the great majority of federal judicial proceedings. At last count,
forty-two states and
Our textbook often uses state cases to illustrate the operation of the
Federal Rules. Underlying almost all American evidence law is the common
law tradition, and the Federal Rules borrow heavily from that tradition.
Written with the belief that students typically prefer to look at the
courtroom world through the criminal law lens, the casebook we will
use emphasizes the criminal context, while using civil cases when illustrating
rules that apply mainly in the civil context.
You can see the specific topics later in this syllabus, but in summary
we will cover: procedural and substantive rules of evidence, judicial
notice, presumptions and burdens of proof, rules governing the receipt
of oral and documentary evidence, impeachment, direct and cross-examination,
competency, hearsay, privileges, and the best evidence rules.
Class Meeting Times:
Class meets on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1:00
to 2:40 p.m. in Room 200.
Required
#1
Title: Fisher's Evidence, 2d
(University Casebook Series®)
Author: Fisher, George
Publisher: Foundation Press
S
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#2
Author: Fisher, George
Publisher: Foundation Press
ISBN-13: 9781599418339
All materials other than the primary texts will be available on the
course website at www.FedREvid.com.
All required readings are essential.
Note: unlike in other courses of mine, not everything projected
in class will be available on the website.
We will often use video
clips to illustrate a problem, and, in most cases, copyright restrictions
prevent me from posting those for you to download.
Note that each class session is two class hours, and that class
on Thanksgiving Eve has been rescheduled for Friday, December 11 in
Room 275.
Audio Recording:
All lectures will be digitally recorded.
Barring technical glitches, audio files of all lectures will
be posted on the course web site in MP3 format.
In the past, I have provided
CD’s of the lectures to students upon request, and I expect to continue
that practice. You are
welcome to make your own recordings of class, if you prefer.
Use of Internet:
Live access to the Internet during classes is permitted and encouraged.
Some documents and exhibits will be distributed only in electronic
form, and accessing them during class will be helpful.
A constantly updating syllabus, copies of all handouts, and many
useful links will be available throughout the course at
www.FedREvid.com,
for which you will receive a username and password necessary to access
copyrighted materials or to take attendance.
Announcements and updates will be sent by email.
You can subscribe to the course Twitter feed named FedREvid,
but I will not subscribe to your Twitter feed.
In other words, for purposes of this course, Twitter will be
one-way communication (like a RSS feed, which will also be available.)
About the Professor
In April 2008, the Foundation for Defense of Democracy named Professor
Snyder an Academic Fellow for 2008-2009. Mr. Snyder was the 2004-2005
Fellow in Government Law and Policy at the Albany Law Schools Government
Law Center. A career federal prosecutor prior to joining the Government
Law Center, Mr. Snyder served over 13 years as an Assistant United States
Attorney (AUSA) in the Western District of Pennsylvania and the District
of Columbia. Prior to receiving his law degree, Mr. Snyder served as
an Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States and was Deputy
Administrative Assistant to Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh.
As an AUSA, Mr. Snyder initiated prosecution of the largest felony case
in the history of the Western District of Pennsylvania while assigned
as legal counsel to the Greater Pittsburgh Violent Crimes/ Gang Task
Force. In addition, he participated in intelligence investigations and
drafted emergency plans while assigned to that district's Joint Terrorism
Task Force and the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council. He served as the
district's Crisis Response Manager.
Mr. Snyder received his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in political
science with a concentration in international relations from Yale College
of Yale University. He received his Juris Doctor degree magna cum laude
from Cornell Law School where he served on the Cornell Law Review and
was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Since 2005, Mr. Snyder taught National Security Law, Current Legal Issues
in Government and Fact Investigation as an Adjunct Professor at
Albany
Law School. In 2006 and 2007 he taught Prosecuting Terrorists in
Article III Courts at the Institute
for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University.
In addition, he teaches criminal law and procedure to local police departments.
He has also lectured on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
(RICO) Act following his service on the Greater Pittsburgh Violent Crime
and Gang Task Force that resulted in a ground-breaking racketeering
prosecution.
Mr. Snyder is a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court,
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the United States Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the United States District
Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He is also a member
of the International Bar Association.