Spring 2027

Constitutional Law

Introduction to U.S. constitutional law focusing on federal government structure, judicial review, separation of powers, and state limitations.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Asifa Quraishi-LandesFranciska ColemanTorey Dolan

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ann Althouse

The workload involved preparing thoroughly for every class session, as the instructor expected students to be ready to engage with complex and confusing questions.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Recognize and apply basic principles of constitutional law.

  • Develop an understanding of the historical context and development of constitutional doctrine in the United States.

  • Identify and apply the different forms of constitutional interpretation applied by the Supreme Court.

  • Articulate key arguments for and against significant constitutional questions.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Declared in Law JD

  • Declared in Law JD
LAW 731

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Declared in Law JD

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 2.88 GPA, 21.4% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.38 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.41 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.14 GPA, 14.3% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.29 GPA, 28.6% A/AB (n=21 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.20 GPA, 20.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ANN ALTHOUSE is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ASIFA QURAISHI-LANDES is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Spring 2010, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

FRANCISKA COLEMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TOREY DOLAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 700
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 700
LEC 003Classroom Instruction0 / 940

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ann Althouse

Students described the course as intellectually demanding, noting that the instructor posed confusing questions and required active listening and careful reading to succeed.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.11 GPA, 32.4% A/AB (n=74 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.29 GPA, 37.5% A/AB (n=80 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.32 GPA, 34.5% A/AB (n=87 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ann Althouse

The workload involved preparing thoroughly for every class session, as the instructor expected students to be ready to engage with complex and confusing questions.

Past student reviews · Ann Althouse

One student found the instructor brilliant and fair with tests, despite the challenging teaching style and the need to listen actively during lectures.

Topics

  • Federal courts and judicial review
  • Federal power and interstate commerce
  • Separation of powers and branch authority
  • State authority limitations and constitutional amendments

Skills

  • Recognizing and applying basic principles of constitutional law.
  • Identifying and applying forms of constitutional interpretation used by the Supreme Court.
  • Articulating arguments for and against significant constitutional questions.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 4 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.03 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
LAW 731 · Spring 2027

Constitutional Law

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:528:010979",
    "course_id": "LAW 731",
    "course_uid": "course_9dadba500cbfa8ff36f04421",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "010979",
    "source_subject_id": "528",
    "title": "Constitutional Law",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "6a26aeb46465a1627f139ed4f15614065a7e336e97d7223db34e314e75a58491",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}