Biography
Trained as a lawyer and a political scientist, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar (MA ’96, PhD ’00) focuses his scholarship on how organizations cope with the legal responsibility for managing complex criminal justice, regulatory, and international security problems. His scholarly articles have tackled issues such as the regulation of criminal financial activity, public participation in regulatory rulemaking proceedings, and executive branch oversight of public agencies. Current projects address the role of criminal enforcement in risk regulation, immigration and refugee policy in the United States and the developing world, the changing scope of the concept of national security in law and policy, and the impact of agency structure on how institutions implement legal mandates.
Professor Cuéllar is on the Executive Committees of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation as well as the Stanford International Initiative. In recent years, he has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, served as a fellow of the U.S.–Japan Foundation, and worked on initiatives for the reform of health and safety regulatory analysis. He was also a member of the Silicon Valley Task Force on Aviation Security. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty, he served for several years as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Enforcement, and clerked for Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. While at Treasury, he worked on countering domestic and international financial crime, improving border coordination, and enhancing anti-corruption measures. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Professor Cuéllar is currently on leave working at the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he serves as Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy.
Key Works
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, 'Securing' the Nation: Law, Politics, and Organization at the Federal Security Agency, 1939-1953, 76 University of Chicago Law Review (2009).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, The Political Economies of Criminal Justice, 75 University of Chicago Law Review 941 (2008).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Auditing Executive Discretion, 82 Notre Dame Law Review (2006).
- Dara K. Cohen, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, and Barry R. Weingast. Crisis Bureaucracy: Homeland Security and the Political Design of Legal Mandates, 59 Stanford Law Review (2006).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Refugee Security and the Organizational Logic of Legal Mandates, 38 Georgetown Journal of International Law (2006).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Rethinking Regulatory Democracy 57 Administrative Law Review 411 (2005).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, The International Criminal Court and the Political Economy of Antitreaty Discourse, 55 Stanford Law Review 1597-1632 (May 2003).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, The Tenuous Relationship Between the Fight Against Money Laundering and the Disruption of Criminal Finance, 93 Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 311-465 (Winter & Spring 2003).
In the News
Courses & Programs
Courses
Publications & Cases
Recent Publications View All
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, 'Securing' the Nation: Law, Politics, and Organization at the Federal Security Agency, 1939-1953, 76 University of Chicago Law Review (2009).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, The Institutional Logic of Preventive Crime, Stanford Public Law Working Paper, No. 1272235 (October 2008).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, The Political Economies of Criminal Justice, 75 University of Chicago Law Review 941 (2008).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, The Limits of the Limits of Idealism: Rethinking American Refugee Policy in an Insecure World, 1 Harvard Law & Policy Review 401 (2007).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, The Untold Story of al-Qaeda's Administrative Law Dilemmas, 91 Minnesota Law Review 1302 (2007).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Running Aground: The Hidden Environmental and Regulatory Implications of Homeland Security, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy Issue Brief, May 2007.
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, 'Securing' the Bureaucracy: The Federal Security Agency and the Political Design of Legal Mandates, 1939-1953, Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 943084 (2006).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Auditing Executive Discretion, 82 Notre Dame Law Review (2006).
- Dara K. Cohen, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, and Barry R. Weingast. Crisis Bureaucracy: Homeland Security and the Political Design of Legal Mandates, 59 Stanford Law Review (2006).
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Refugee Security and the Organizational Logic of Legal Mandates, 38 Georgetown Journal of International Law (2006).
Affiliations & Honors
Professional Affiliations
- Member, Board of Directors, Asylum Access, Inc.
- Member, OMB Watch Task Force on Government Management of the Regulatory Process
- Member, Executive Committee, Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation
- Co-Chair, Regulatory Policy Committee, American Bar Association Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice
- Vice Chair, Rulemaking Committee, American Bar Association Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice
- Affiliated Faculty Member, Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation
- Member, Board of Directors, Institute for Renewal of the California Dream
- Member, Executive Committee, Stanford International Initiative
- Member, Santa Clara County Bar, Presidential Commission on Diversity in the Legal Profession
- Member, Silicon Valley Blue Ribbon Task Force on Aviation Security
Honors and Awards
- Elected Member, American Law Institute
- Fellow, U.S.-Japan Foundation
- Recognized as author of one of the ten best pieces of legal scholarship on global security and justice of 2007 (for "The Untold Story of Al-Qaeda's Administrative Law Dilemmas") by editors of the Oxford University Press 2007 Reader on Global Security and Justice

- tcuellar@stanford.edu
- 650 723.9216
- Curriculum Vitae
- SSRN Published Papers
Education
- BA, Harvard University, 1993
- MA (political science), Stanford University, 1996
- JD, Yale Law School, 1997
- PhD (political science), Stanford University, 2000
Expertise
- Administrative Law
- Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
- Federal and International Criminal Law
- International and National Security (Terrorism, Law of Force, and Related Topics)
- International Law
- Migration and Refugees
- Regulatory Policy
- The Legislative Process