Biography
Professor Jenny S. Martinez is a leading expert on international courts and tribunals, international human rights, and the laws of war. Her scholarship focuses on the role of courts and tribunals in advancing human rights, ranging from her work on the all-but-forgotten 19th-century international tribunals involved in the suppression of the trans-Atlantic slave trade through her work on contemporary institutions like the International Criminal Court and the role of courts in policing human rights abuses in the “war on terror.” An experienced litigator, she argued the 2004 case of Rumsfeld v. Padilla before the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to clarify the constitutional protections available to post-9/11 “enemy combatants” who are U.S. citizens. Professor Martinez was named to the National Law Journal’s list of “Top 40 Lawyers Under 40” and the American Lawyer’s “Young Litigators Fab Fifty.” She serves on the board of directors for the Open Society Justice Initiative and has served as a consultant on international human rights issues for both Human Rights First and the International Center for Transitional Justice.
Before joining the Stanford faculty in 2003, Professor Martinez was a senior research fellow at Yale University and an attorney at Jenner & Block. She clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer (BA ’59) of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; she was an associate legal officer for Judge Patricia Wald of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Key Works
- Jenny S. Martinez, The Slave Trade and the Origins of International Human Rights Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
- Jenny S. Martinez, International Courts and the U.S. Constitution: Re-examining the History, 159 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1069 (2011).
- Jenny S. Martinez, Process and Substance in the "War on Terror", 108 Columbia Law Review 1013 (2008).
- Jenny S. Martinez, Inherent Executive Powers: A Comparative Perspective, 116 Yale Law Journal 2480 (2006).
In the News
Courses & Programs
Courses
Publications & Cases
Recent Publications View All
- Jenny S. Martinez, The Slave Trade and the Origins of International Human Rights Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
- Jenny S. Martinez, The Extraterritorial Constitution and the Rule of Law, 27 Constitutional Commentary 527 (2011).
- Jenny S. Martinez, International Courts and the U.S. Constitution: Re-examining the History, 159 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1069 (2011).
- Jenny S. Martinez, Muneer I. Ahmad, et al, Scholars' Statement of Principles for the New President on U.S. Detention Policy: An Agenda for Change, 47 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 339 (Winter 2009).
- Jenny S. Martinez, Patricia McGowan Wald, in Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law, Roger K. Newman, ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
- Jenny S. Martinez, The Mess Left Behind, Room For Debate: A Running Commentary on the News, New York Times, March 31, 2009.
- Jenny S. Martinez, Flexibility With Truth Commissions, Room For Debate: A Running Commentary on the News, New York Times, March 2, 2009.
- Jenny S. Martinez, Antislavery Courts and the Dawn of International Human Rights Law, 117 Yale Law Journal 550 (2008).
- Jenny S. Martinez, Process and Substance in the "War on Terror", 108 Columbia Law Review 1013 (2008).
- Jack L. Goldsmith, Jenny S. Martinez, Charles Fried and Jack M. Balkin, Questions of Justice, New York Times, October 17, 2007, pg. A27.
Affiliations & Honors
Professional Affiliations
- Team Member, Council on Foreign Relations
- Member, American Society of International Law
- Member, Program Committee for American Society of International Law Centennial Conference
Honors and Awards
- Honoree, National Law Journal's "Top 40 Lawyers Under 40", 2005
- Honoree, Daily Recorder, California "Top 20 Lawyers Under 40", 2006
- jmartinez@law.stanford.edu
- 650 725.2749
- Curriculum Vitae
Education
- BA, Yale University, 1993
- JD, Harvard Law School, 1997
Expertise
- Civil Procedure and Litigation
- Comparative Law
- Constitutional Law
- Human Rights
- International Law