The seminar will discuss an important but often neglected area of American legal thinking. The goal is to locate conservative and libertarian thinking within both general jurisprudential thinking and the political and legal spectrum. The seminar will also examine the contribution of conservatives and libertarians to the debate of current issues and legal doctrine. Readings will include writings by leading conservative and libertarian theorists and jurists. These will be critically contrasted to each other, and to left-of-center liberal thinking. In order to get credit, students must write a paper on a topic of their choice. The seminar satisfies the upper level legal writing requirement.