Spring 2027

The American Constitution: Rights and Civil Liberties

Historical examination of American constitutional thinking on individual rights and civil liberties from the founding era to the present, covering the Bill of Rights, Civil War Amendments, federal courts, and federalism.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Howard Schweber3.8/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Howard Schweber

The course was difficult, with exams requiring advanced constitutional law knowledge comparable to law school level. One student found the material challenging but rewarding, noting the online format allowed for frequent lecture re-watching.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Examine the historical development of American constitutional thinking about individual rights and civil liberties from the founding era to the present day.

  • Examine freedoms guaranteed by the original Articles, the Bill of Rights, and the Civil War Amendments (XIII, XIV, and XV) as these issues appear in constitutional law, constitutional politics, and social and economic developments.

  • Understand the role of the federal courts, the nature and operation of principles of federalism, and the authority of Congress to protect constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing and POLI SCI 104

POLISCI 412

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

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Howard Schweber

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.77/5 from 129 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 3.3/5 raw quality · 3.8/5 difficulty · 8 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Howard Schweber

Howard Schweber's teaching received mixed feedback; some students found his lectures incoherent or condescending, while others noted he connected case law themes effectively and demanded rigorous thinking. One reviewer stated his exams required advanced constitutional law knowledge, whereas another found the material rewarding despite the difficulty.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.73 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=92 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.79 GPA, 87.7% A/AB (n=81 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=64 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

HOWARD SCHWEBER is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, 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 / 1020
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 170
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 170
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 170
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 170
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 170
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 170

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 · Howard Schweber

Students described Prof. Schweber as smart and engaging, noting he connects case law themes effectively and provides helpful pre-written notes. Some found his lectures funny and valuable for deepening understanding.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.73 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=92 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.79 GPA, 87.7% A/AB (n=81 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=64 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Howard Schweber

The course was difficult, with exams requiring advanced constitutional law knowledge comparable to law school level. One student found the material challenging but rewarding, noting the online format allowed for frequent lecture re-watching.

Past student reviews · Howard Schweber

Some students found the lectures incoherent and condescending, noting the professor talked for 75 minutes straight. Others felt he asked questions to put people down or was arrogant in his approach.

Topics

  • Freedoms guaranteed by the original Articles, the Bill of Rights, and the Civil War Amendments.
  • Role of federal courts, principles of federalism, and Congressional authority to protect rights.

Skills

  • Examine the historical development of American constitutional thinking about individual rights and civil liberties.
  • Analyze freedoms guaranteed by the original Articles, Bill of Rights, and Civil War Amendments in legal, political, and social contexts.
  • Understand the roles of federal courts, principles of federalism, and Congressional authority regarding constitutional rights.

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 3 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.

6 earlier forecasts · 0.16 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.

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Selected offering source records
POLISCI 412 · Spring 2027

The American Constitution: Rights and Civil Liberties

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:778:015923",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 412",
    "course_uid": "course_c0ce58a44b64a4a47cfd1297",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015923",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "The American Constitution: Rights and Civil Liberties",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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": "1beaa98c1bfd93be0d77cbdd46398676d3de54c6c332db10145ae019488b5e32",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}