Douglas W. Kmiec
Professor of Constitutional Law and Caruso Family Chair in Constitutional Law
B.A., with honors, Northwestern University, 1973
J.D., University of Southern California, 1976
One of America's best known scholars and popular commentators on the law, Professor Douglas W. Kmiec holds the endowed chair in constitutional law at Pepperdine Law School. He came to this position after serving several years as dean and St. Thomas More Professor of Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and for nearly two decades, on the law faculty at the University of Notre Dame. As dean at Catholic University, Professor Kmiec did what many said would be impossible; he greatly increased academic quality and student selectivity at the same time he deepened the school's religious commitment. During his tenure, the law school moved into the upper tier of the U.S. News ranking from tier three. At Notre Dame, he was director of Notre Dame's Center on Law & Government, and the founder of its Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. Beyond the university setting, Kmiec served Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush during 1985-89 as constitutional legal counsel (Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice).
A wide-ranging writer and engaging speaker, Professor Kmiec writes a syndicated column for the Catholic News Service, and for several years wrote a regular column in the Chicago Tribune. He is also a frequent contributor to the pages of the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and other periodicals. He is the co-author (with legal historian Stephen Presser of Northwestern) of three books on the Constitution -- The American Constitutional Order; Individual Rights and the American Constitution and The History, Structure and Philosophy of the American Constitution. Another recent book, Cease-Fire on the Family (Crisis Books/Notre Dame) attracted scholarly and popular acclaim for proposing realistic ways for families to "end the culture war" by renewing personal virtue and civic responsibility within itself. He has also written The Attorney General's Lawyer (Praeger 1992), and several respected legal treatises.
Professor Kmiec's scholarly research spans legal and non-legal subjects, from the Constitution and the federal system, to land use and the organization of America society. He is a frequent guest on national news programs, such as Nightline, the Newshour, and NPR's Talk of the Nation, analyzing constitutional questions.
A White House Fellow (1982-83), Professor Kmiec is one of a few individuals who has received the Distinguished Service Award from two cabinet departments —the Department of Justice in 1987 and Housing and Urban Development in 1983. In 1988, he was awarded the Edmund J. Randolph Award by the attorney general. He has lectured on the U.S. Constitution in Asia as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar.
An honors graduate of Northwestern, Professor Kmiec received his law degree from the University of Southern California, where he served on the Law Review and received the Legion Lex Commencement Prize for Legal Writing. He is a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and the state bars of Illinois and California.
law.pepperdine.edu
Additional Wikipedia Listing
Douglas W. Kmiec (born September 24, 1951) is an American legal scholar. He is the Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University's School of Law. He served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel (U.S. Assistant Attorney General) for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, a position previously held by U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia in the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Professor Kmiec is the former Dean and St. Thomas More Professor of the law school at The Catholic University of America (2001-2003). With leaves for government service, Professor Kmiec was a member of the faculty at Notre Dame Law School from 1980 to 1999. At Notre Dame, he directed the Thomas White Center on Law & Government and founded the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy.
Kmiec has been a White House Fellow, a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar on the Constitution (in Asia), and the inaugural Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the National Constitution Center (with Yale's Akhil Amar).
An honors graduate of Northwestern University, Kmiec received his law degree from the University of Southern California, where he served on the Law Review and received the Legion Lex Commencement Prize for Legal Writing. He is a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and the state bars of Illinois and California.[1]
His published work includes The Attorney General's Lawyer, three books on the American Constitution, a two-volume legal treatise, related books, and hundreds of published articles and essays. He is a frequent guest in the media on programs such as the NewsHour, Meet the Press, and NPR, analyzing constitutional, cultural, and political developments.[2] He writes the Faith and Precedent column for the Catholic News Service.
Following his CUA deanship, Kmiec assumed the chair in constitutional law at Pepperdine University School of Law.[3] Along with Professor Mary Ann Glendon of the Harvard Law School, he was named by Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to head the Romney for President Committee on the Courts and the Constitution in 2007.
Despite his Republican bona fides, Kmiec endorsed Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.[4][5][6] A Catholic priest provoked controversy when he denied Kmiec communion for supporting Obama who is "pro-choice".[7] This action by the priest was called "shameful and indefensible" by Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Kmiec was sent a letter of apology by the priest.[8]
He recently published the book Can A Catholic Support Him?: Asking the Big Question About Barack Obama, and is touring the country with the Barack Obama: Faith, Family and Values Tour with evangelical author Donald Miller and former Indiana Congressman pro-life Democrat Tim Roemer. The book's introduction was written by fellow Catholic Martin Sheen.
With his wife, Carolyn Keenan Kmiec (the director of a fine arts program at Pepperdine for disadvantaged children), he has five children: Kloe, Kolleen, Kiley, Katherine, and Keenan.
Keenan Kmiec graduated from Boalt Hall Law School and was selected as a 2006-2007 law clerk to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, and practices with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Sidley Austin. Katherine Kmiec Turner is a lawyer in southern California. Kiley Kmiec is in worldwide music marketing with Electronic Arts.
en.wikipedia.org
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