Local Government Law

This course will consider the source, scope, and limits of local government power. It will consider the relationship of local governments to state and federal government and of the relationship of local governments to the individuals and communities within and around them. Specific themes will include the potential of local governments to be responsive democratic communities, the potential of local governments to become isolated or exclusive enclaves, and the effect of local governments on the metropolitan political economy. We will example doctrines empowering local governments to act, like home rule, and limits on local government action imposed by various forms of state and federal preemption. We will also consider land use and zoning as levers of local government power and their effects on economic and racial diversity.