Law students will have the opportunity this spring to take a one-hour class taught by a former White House staff member. The two-week course offered at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center is titled, “The Supreme Court and Presidential Elections” and will explore the role of the U.S. Supreme Court using “Bush v. Gore,” the case that decided who won the 2000 presidential election.Charles Burson, who will teach the class, served as counsel and chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore from 1997 to 2001. Law seniors can begin registering for classes today, and juniors can begin Tuesday.Michele Forbes, director of Student Affairs and Registrar, said Burson’s class has a 40-student limit. She said juniors can take the class, but seniors get first pick in scheduling.Burson said as chief of staff, one of his many responsibilities was watching over the Senate and House of Representative hearings. After he retired, he said he wanted to do something different, and he discussed the idea to teach a course involving the voter recount during the 2000 presidential election and the Supreme Court’s role in the decision at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Mo. Washington University officials approved the idea, and he began teaching the course last year, Burson said. He said he wants to continue teaching at Washington University and will travel to other states to teach the course. He will compress the course into a two-week class at the LSU Law Center.Jack Weiss, Law Center chancellor, said Burson had a long and distinguished legal career and has a unique perspective into the presidential election after working on Gore’s staff. “I am very excited Burson will be teaching here as the first distinguished domestic professor, at least during my chancellorship,” Weiss said. Weiss said the Law Center had distinguished foreign professors teaching courses in the past, teaching for short periods of time. Weiss said he wants to have domestic and foreign distinguished guests visiting to teach at the Law Center. —-Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]