The Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, & the Media (IJPM)

At Syracuse University College of Law you can pursue academic opportunities to study law at its nexus with policy making and the press. Here’s a special interdisciplinary program to help you make the most of your law degree. Are you up to the challenge?

Here's What You'll Study

The confluence of politics and the media exerts pressure on the judiciary process, creating new responsibilities and concerns for the courts and legal decision-makers. Examine the conflicting demands for judicial impartiality and political ideology and you’ll find a compelling lesson in the most fundamental principles of the law. Explore the influence of politics and media on judicial independence from municipal courts all the way to the Supreme Court and you’ll discover the nuances of law in the modern world.

IJPM is a first-of-its-kind academic institute and is celebrating its sixth year devoted to the interdisciplinary study of complex issues at the intersection of law, politics, and the media. Through a collaborative effort among the Syracuse University College of Law, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, a unique program has been developed that will expand your view of the law – today and the future. The curriculum delivers a compelling blend of law, political science, public administration, history, media and communications.

The institute sponsors special lectures, conferences & symposia designed to foster discussion and debate among legal scholars, sitting judges, working journalists, and some of the leading thinkers in the country – and you’re invited to attend.

Here are some of the challenging subjects you’ll study

Course syllabus, meetings & events

Six Years of IJPM Success

Led by IJPM Director, Keith J. Bybee, an interdisciplinary certificate program was developed that provides SU College of Law students front row seats to the activities that have occured since fall of 2006.

Lectures, Symposia and Conferences:
There have been over 30 lectures by visiting speakers on topics ranging from the propriety of partisan judicial elections to the portrayal of courts on Law & Order SVU. IJPM has organized nine separate symposia featuring a variety of academics and practitioners. And staged two major conferences:

  • “Law and Media,” co-sponsored with the Federal Judicial Center, the government agency for the federal courts. The conference brought 50 federal judges to campus to hear presentations by faculty, journalists, and jurists (we plan to organize conferences with the Federal Judicial Center in the future).
  • “Creators vs. Consumers: The Rhetoric, Reality, and Reformation of Intellectual Property Law and Policy,” a conference that featured 16 speakers from the bench, the bar, the press, interest groups, and the legal academy.

Watch the lectures series videos here.

Publications:
We seek ways to publish work and have organized and edited a volume of essays as well as two law review symposia:

  • Bench Press: The Collision of Courts, Politics, and the Media (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007).
  • “Creators vs. Consumers: The Rhetoric, Reality and Reformation of Intellectual Property Law and Policy,” Syracuse Law Review (2008): 427-546.
  • “The Importance of Judicial Appearances: A Symposium on Law, Politics, and the Media,” Syracuse Law Review (2009): 361-469.

IJPM also manages the “Law, Politics, and Media” book series at Stanford University Press. The most recent volume will be published this fall: What’s Law Got to Do With It? What Judges Do, Why They Do It, and What’s at Stake, edited by Charles Gardner Geyh. IJPM edits a subject-matter journal, Law, Politics, and the Media eJournal, on the Social Science Research Network. Over 100 issues have been produced since the journal’s launch in 2009.

Here's where you'll spend a lot of your time

There are significant advantages to tackling your law degree in an environment that’s integrated into a major university. Here are some of the places you’ll be spending your time as you pursue your studies. In your spare time? Well, there’s plenty of excitement to find here as well.

Syracuse University College of Law: A rich tradition in law & interdisciplinary law studies.

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University: National leader in public affairs, political science & international relations.

S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University: One of the nation’s most prestigious communications schools.