Biography

Kathleen M. Sullivan is a nationally prominent scholar and teacher of constitutional law. Author of the nation’s leading casebook in constitutional law, she has published articles on federalism, religion, speech, equality, and constitutional theory. She was the founding director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. A professor of law at Harvard Law School before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1993, she is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Also an outstanding litigator who has argued before numerous appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, she has been named by The National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America.

From 1999 to 2004, Professor Sullivan served as the eleventh dean of Stanford Law School and the first woman dean of any school at Stanford. As dean, she made fifteen faculty appointments, established the clinical faculty, renovated all 17 classrooms and the library reading room, launched numerous academic centers, started the LLM program, and raised over $100 million for the school.

Key Works

• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Public Values in and Era of Privatization--The New Religion and the Constitution, 116 Harvard Law Review 1397-1421 (March 2003).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Political Money and Freedom of Speech, 30 University of California, Davis Law Review 663-90 (1997).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Alan Brinkley, and Nelson W. Polsby, The New Federalist Papers: Essays in Defense of the Constitution, New York: Twentieth Century Fund, W.W. Norton, 1997. 179 pages
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Free Speech and Unfree Markets, 42 University of California, Los Angeles Law Review 949-65 (1995).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Religion and Liberal Democracy, 59 University of Chicago Law Review 195-223 (1992).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, The Supreme Court, 1991 Term -- Foreword: The Justices of Rules and Standards, 106 Harvard Law Review 22-123 (1992).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Unconstitutional Conditions, 102 Harvard Law Review 1413-1506 (1989).

In the News

• Litigator Of The Week: Kathleen Sullivan Of Quinn Emanuel
  AmLaw Daily, September 25, 2009
• Hearing Opens on Lieutenant Governor
  The New York Times, August 19, 2009
• Argument Cycle Dominated By Veterans
  The National Law Journal, August 03, 2009
• Favorites of Left Don’t Make Obama’s Court List
  New York Times, May 25, 2009
• Souter’s Exit Opens Door For A More Influential Justice
  The New York Times, May 08, 2009

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Constitutional Law I
• Constitutional Law II: The Fourteenth Amendment

Programs

• Stanford Constitutional Law Center, Director

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Michael Chertoff, Stephen L. Carter, Alberto Gonzales, Ann Althouse, Ronald Dworkin, and James MacGregor Burns, Questions for Sotomayor, New York Times, July 13, 2009, pg. A19.
• Kathleen Sullivan, Gerald Gunther, in Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law, Roger K. Newman, ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Tribute to Stephen G. Breyer, 64 New York University Annual Survery of American Law 25 (2008).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan (moderator), Randy E. Barnett, Thomas C. Goldstein, Alan B. Morrison, John Payton, Deborah Pearlstein, Andrew J. Pincus Supreme Court Review, organized by the American Constitution Society, at the National Press Club, Washington, D.C., July 1, 2008.
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Free Speech (An Enigmatic Court? Examining the Roberts Court as it Begins Year Three), 35 Pepperdine Law Review 533 (March 2008).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan and Susan R. Estrich, Brief Amici Curiae of 274 Organizations in Support of Roe v. Wade, Submitted in Turnock v. Ragsdale, in The Reproductive Rights Reader, Nancy Ehrenreich, ed., New York: New York University Press, January 2008.
• Tom Goldstein, The Next Supreme Court Justice? Daily Journal, December 20, 2007.
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Law and Topology, 42 Tulsa Law Review 949 (Summer 2007).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Introduction (Symposium: Law of Democracy), 18 Stanford Law & Policy Review 234 (2007).
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Andrea L. Manka, David Z. Moskowitz and Melanie F. Wachtell, Brief of Electronic Privacy Information Center, Center for Democracy and Technology, and Computer Scientists for Professional Responsibility as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees: Hepting v. AT&T, Nos. 06-17132, 06-17137, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (May 2, 2007).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Foundation Press Editorial Board
• Member, Board of Trustees, the Century Foundation
• Member, American Bar Association Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements

Honors and Awards

• Honoree, National Law Journal's "The 50 Most Influential Women in America", 2007
• Honorary LLD, Suffolk University Law School, 2004
• Elected Member, American Philosophical Society
• Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Recipient, Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence, Harvard, 1992
• Recipient, John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford, 1996
• Recipient, Radcliffe College Alumnae Association Graduate Society Medal, 1995
• Honoree, The National Law Journal, "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America"
• Honoree, The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, "Top 75 Women Litigators in California"
• Honoree, California Lawyer Magazine, "Attorney of the Year," Appellate Litigation
• Honoree, The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, "Top 100 Lawyers in California," September 29, 2005