Building on the foundation that students gained in their first-year Legislation and Regulation class, this class will take a deeper dive into statutory interpretation. As a baseline, the course will thoroughly explore the textualist approach to statutory interpretation, the self-stated philosophy of majorities of the highest courts of the U.S. and Florida. The course will also give students a solid grounding in alternative approaches, like purposivism and consequentialism. Finally, the course will examine the basic analytical concepts that cut across all approaches to statutory interpretation, including intent, purpose, ordinary meaning, structure, background principles, and the canons of interpretation. While some of the assigned readings will be academic, the overarching perspective of the course and the bulk of the reading will be more practical/judicial.
As a result of this course, students should better understand: (1) how courts currently approach statutory interpretation in practice; (2) the basic conceptual building blocks that frame courts’ statutory analysis, including the canons of interpretation; (3) how to frame arguments about statutory interpretation that will be most persuasive to a court; and (4) the competing theoretical approaches to statutory interpretation.