James S. Todd
Retired Senior Lecturer, University of Arizona
Occasional Lecturer, University of Virginia
Ph.D., University of Virginia, 1993
J.D., University of Georgia, 1969
M.A., University of Georgia, 1971
B.A, Gettysburg College, 1965
Member District of Columbia Bar and the United States Supreme Court Bar
Cell phone: 520-299-1328
e-mail:
jst3u@virginia.edu
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PLAP 4500, Special Topics in American Government: Money and Politics
I am teaching a
seminar this spring semester at the University of Virginia the main goal of which will be to explore
the reasons that help explain why American government seems to be working so badly. Among the topics to be
explored will be: the role that money plays in U.S. elections;
decicions of the Supreme Court affecting
attempts to regulate political contributions;
the role lobbyists play in the legislative process; the Tea
Party movement;
the military
industrial complex (January 2011 marked the 50th anniverary of President Eisenhower's famnous speech on the
subject);
and the growing maldistribution of wealth in the United States.
Required books for the course (so far - there may be one or two more paperbacks):
Winner Take ALl Politics, by
Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson;
So Damn Much Money, The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government, by Robert G. Kaisero
Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex;
Heaslth Care Reform and American Politics: What everyone Needs to Know, by Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda
Skocpol
The course is closed at the present time, but students interested in it should come to the first and second
classes.
The last time I taught a seminar, in 2008, most of the students who attended the first day did not
come back the second (what did i say?!) and students seeking admission were able to get into the course.
UVA OLLI COURSE FOR Spring 2012 (February 22 and 29; March 7, 14, and 21):
This course, the
third
in a series, will explore the growth in the power of the judicial branch.
Some of the topics to be covered
will be: signigicant
Supreme Court decisions and important Justices;
the checks on the judiciary and how well they work; and the
difficult question of the "proper" role for Justices tasked with interpreting our laws and Constitution.
Address:139 Georgetown Green, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Former, current, and future students: I retired from the University
of Arizona December 31, 2007. and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia
Occasionally I teach a course at the University of
Virginia (Spring Semester 2008 I tuaght a seminar on "The Presidency, Civil Liberties, and the War on
Terror").
I am also teasching short courses as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the
University of Virginia.
So far I have taught courses on the growth of presidential and Congressional power
and a course on the Bill of Rights.
I plan to teach a course on the growth of judicial power this
spring.
I also continue to teach my American government class as part of the Junior Statesman Summer School
on the Georgetown University campus.
I have been teaching in Junior State Summer schools since 1993 and
hope to continue to do so for a few years more.
I no longer have an office at the University of Arizona,
and I no longer use my
Arizona email account which is overrun with ads for penis enlargement,
but I will keep this homepage as long
as the University allows me to do so.
My very grateful thanks goes out to my former students - a
generation of you -
who were - and are - a continuing
source of pleasure and satisfaction.
I
wish you all the best, I will always be glad to hear from you, and I hope
you will keep in touch!
(And to help out with that, I have a
facebook page (the easiest way to find it is using my email jst3u@virginia.edu).)
LINKS
Faculty Fellows Lecture, 9/16/98: Maldistribution of Wealth and the
Theories of James Madison
Junior State at Georgetown Graduation Speech
Syllabus for PLAP 424 (Spring Semester 2008 UVA Course)
Syllabi from Some of the Courses I Taught at the
University of Arizona between 1986 and 2007
Advance Placement American Government Sample Exam Questions
Information about Letters of
Recommendation
Good Links
My Ph.D. dissertation, "Lawyers, Factions, and the Distribution of
Wealth"
American Government Class (POL 201) Final Lecture
"All of US in
Wonderland" - read my pessimistic take from spring 2006 on
how things were going then.
(I'm a little more optimistic
now, but not much.)
If you want to read a more thorough exploration
of how the way things are going
conflicts with traditional American
values,
read "The Idea of America" by Princeton Professor Anne-Marie
Slaughter.
Take a Tour of My College, Law School, and Graduate School
and the 200-year old Demosthenian Literary Society
Updates on my ongoing battle with cancer