H. Jefferson Powell

Professor of Law

School of Law

powell@law.duke.edu

Duke Box 90362, Duke Law School, Durham, NC 27708-0362

Duke Law School 210 Science Dr, Room 4190 Duke Box 90362, Durham, NC 27708-0362

AT A GLANCE

Credentials
1. Education

Academic Experience
1. Current Appointments & Affiliations
2. Previous Appointments & Affiliations

Expertise
1. Global Scholarship

Research

Publications
1. Selected Publications

Artistic Works / Events

Teaching
1. Recent Courses

Advising & Mentoring

Recognition
1. In the News

Professional Activities

Manage Profile

Embed Profile Data

Selected Publications

The Foundations of American Law: A Companion to the 1L Year

Book · 2024 Link to item Cite

Is the Constitution Obsolete?

Other North State Journal · 2024 Cite

The Practice of American Constitutional Law

Book · 2022 Link to item Cite

History, Rights, and Constitutional Law

Other Fifteeneightyfour Blog · 2022 Cite

Imagining the United States: Reflections From Constitutional Law

Journal Article Law and Contemporary Problems · 2022 Link to item Cite

Judges as Superheroes: The Danger of Confusing Constitutional Decisions with Cosmic Battles

Journal Article South Carolina Law Review · 2021 Link to item Cite

Law as a Language, Law as an Art: Reflections on James Boyd White’s Keep Law Alive

Journal Article British Journal of American Legal Studies · 2021 Link to item Cite

John Marshall Harlan and Constitutional Adjudication: An Anniversary Rehearing

Journal Article Belmont Law Review · 2021 Link to item Cite

History Tells Us Black Americans Need Better Legal Protection

Other Law360 · 2020 Cite

The Emergence of the American Constitutional Law Tradition

Journal Article Judicature · 2019 Link to item Cite

The United States as an Idea: Constitutional Reflections

Journal Article Loyola University Chicago Law Journal · 2018 Link to item Cite

Passion and Personhood: Reading John Noonan's Persons and Marks of the Law

Journal Article Western Legal History · 2018 Cite

The Law in Chains: the American Attorneys General and Slavery, 1789-1871

Book · 2017 Cite

The Brokenness of A Gift to the World: Why the Episcopal Church Should Reject the Recent Proposal for Full Communion with the United Methodist Church

Other · 2017 Link to item Cite

The State of the Judiciary

Other Judicature · 2017 Cite

Targeting Americans: The Constitutionality of the U.S. Drone War

Book · 2016 Link to item Cite

The Targeted Killing of American Citizens

Other OUPblog · 2016 Cite

The Targeted Killing of American Citizens

Other OUPblog · 2016 Cite

EPA Plan Needs a Debate Based on Reason

Other Boston Globe · 2015 Cite

Professor Greenawalt's Unfashionable Idea

Journal Article Columbia Law Review · 2015 Link to item Cite

The Foundations of American Law: A Companion to the 1L Year

Book · 2024 Link to item Cite

Is the Constitution Obsolete?

Other North State Journal · 2024 Cite

The Practice of American Constitutional Law

Book · 2022 Link to item Cite

History, Rights, and Constitutional Law

Other Fifteeneightyfour Blog · 2022 Cite

Imagining the United States: Reflections From Constitutional Law

Journal Article Law and Contemporary Problems · 2022 Link to item Cite

Judges as Superheroes: The Danger of Confusing Constitutional Decisions with Cosmic Battles

Journal Article South Carolina Law Review · 2021 Link to item Cite

Law as a Language, Law as an Art: Reflections on James Boyd White’s Keep Law Alive

Journal Article British Journal of American Legal Studies · 2021 Link to item Cite

John Marshall Harlan and Constitutional Adjudication: An Anniversary Rehearing

Journal Article Belmont Law Review · 2021 Link to item Cite

History Tells Us Black Americans Need Better Legal Protection

Other Law360 · 2020 Cite

The Emergence of the American Constitutional Law Tradition

Journal Article Judicature · 2019 Link to item Cite

The United States as an Idea: Constitutional Reflections

Journal Article Loyola University Chicago Law Journal · 2018 Link to item Cite

Passion and Personhood: Reading John Noonan's Persons and Marks of the Law

Journal Article Western Legal History · 2018 Cite

The Law in Chains: the American Attorneys General and Slavery, 1789-1871

Book · 2017 Cite

The Brokenness of A Gift to the World: Why the Episcopal Church Should Reject the Recent Proposal for Full Communion with the United Methodist Church

Other · 2017 Link to item Cite

The State of the Judiciary

Other Judicature · 2017 Cite

Targeting Americans: The Constitutionality of the U.S. Drone War

Book · 2016 Link to item Cite

The Targeted Killing of American Citizens

Other OUPblog · 2016 Cite

The Targeted Killing of American Citizens

Other OUPblog · 2016 Cite

EPA Plan Needs a Debate Based on Reason

Other Boston Globe · 2015 Cite

Professor Greenawalt's Unfashionable Idea

Journal Article Columbia Law Review · 2015 Link to item Cite

In Praise of Eternal Youth

Other Duke Law Magazine · 2015 Cite

The President as Commander in Chief: An Essay in Constitutional Vision

Book · 2014 Link to item Cite

Slow Reading and Living Speech: James Boyd White on What a Constitutional Law Opinion is For

Chapter · 2014 Cite

The Humanity of Law

Chapter · 2013 Cite

Legal Affinities: Explorations in the Legal Form of Thought

Book · 2013 Link to item Cite

William Rawle and Secession: Legal Rights and Political Wrongs

Chapter · 2013 Cite

A Dialogue Between a Theologian and a Lawyer

Journal Article Law & Contemporary Problems · 2012 Link to item Cite

The Conflicted Assumptions of Modern Constitutional Law

Journal Article Journal of Law, Philosophy & Culture · 2011 Link to item Cite

The Regrettable Clause: United States v. Comstock and the Powers of Congress

Journal Article San Diego Law Review · 2011 Link to item Cite

Reasoning About the Irrational: The Roberts Court and the Future of Constitutional Law

Journal Article Washington Law Review · 2011 Link to item Cite

Humanity of Law

Journal Article Villlanova Law Review · 2010 Link to item Cite

On Not Being "Not an Originalist"

Journal Article University of Saint Thomas Law Journal · 2010 Link to item Cite

Further Reflections on Not Being "Not an Originalist"

Journal Article University of Saint Thomas Law Journal · 2010 Link to item Cite

Book Review

Journal Article Journal of American History · 2010 Cite

Law as a Tool

Chapter · 2009 Cite

Law and Democracy in the Empire of Force

Book · 2009 Link to item Cite

No Law: Intellectual Property in the Image of an Absolute First Amendment

Book · 2009 Link to item Cite

William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States of America

Book · 2009 Link to item Cite

'William Bradford,' 'Edmund Randolph,' and 'William Wirt'

Chapter · 2009 Cite

The Story of Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation

Chapter · 2009 Cite

A Response to Professor Knight, 'Are Empiricists Asking the Right Questions about Judicial Decisionmaking?'

Journal Article Duke Law Journal · 2009 Link to item Cite

Constitutional Conscience: The Moral Dimension of Judicial Decision

Book · 2008 Link to item Cite

Foreword

Chapter · 2007 Cite

A Teacher

Journal Article Michigan Law Review · 2007 Link to item Cite

Constitutional Virtues

Journal Article Green Bag · 2006 Cite

For Lash: Who Asks the Right Questions

Journal Article Washington & Lee Law Review · 2006 Link to item Cite

Preface

Chapter · 2006 Cite

The Executive and the Avoidance Canon

Conference Indiana Law Journal · 2006 Link to item Cite

Grand Visions in an Age of Conflict

Journal Article Yale Law Journal · 2006 Link to item Cite

A Community Built on Words: The Constitution in History and Politics

Book · 2005 Link to item Cite

'Calder v. Bull,' and 'Higher Law'

Chapter · 2005 Cite

Should Creed or Constitution Guide the Judiciary?

Chapter · 2005 Cite

The Constitutional Importance of Books

Journal Article Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Minority Issues · 2004 Cite

The Three Independences

Journal Article University of Richmond Law Review · 2004 Link to item Cite

The founding fathers and the place of religion in America

Journal Article HISTORIAN · 2004 Cite

Reflections on a Conversation

Journal Article Georgia State University Law Review · 2003 Link to item Cite

Overcoming Democracy: Richard Posner and 'Bush v. Gore'

Journal Article Journal of Law & Politics · 2002 Link to item Cite

The Desirability of Politics

Journal Article Green Bag 2d · 2002 Cite

The President's Authority Over Foreign Affairs: An Essay in Constitutional Interpretation

Book · 2002 Link to item Cite

William Howard Taft, Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers

Book · 2002 Link to item Cite

The Right to Self-Government After Bush v. Gore

Journal Article · 2001 Link to item Cite

William Wirt and the Invention of the Public Lawyer

Journal Article Green Bag 2d · 2001 Link to item Cite

Attorney General Taney and the South Carolina Police Bill

Journal Article Green Bag 2d · 2001 Link to item Cite

The Earthly Peace of the Liberal Republic

Chapter · 2001 Cite

The Judge

Journal Article North Carolina Law Review · 2000 Link to item Cite

Convenient Shorthand: The Supreme Court and the Language of State Sovereignty

Journal Article University of Colorado Law Review · 2000 Link to item Cite

With Disdain for the Constitutional Craft: The Proposed Victims' Rights Amendment

Journal Article North Carolina Law Review · 2000 Link to item Cite

The Founders and the President's Authority Over Foreign Affairs

Journal Article William & Mary Law Review · 1999 Link to item Cite

Marshall's Question

Journal Article Green Bag 2d · 1999 Link to item Cite

Who's Afraid of Thomas Cromwell?

Journal Article Chicago-Kent Law Review · 1999 Link to item Cite

The Constitution and the Attorneys General

Book · 1999 Link to item Cite

The President's Authority Over Foreign Affairs: An Executive Branch Perspective

Journal Article George Washington Law Review · 1999 Link to item Cite

The Lawfulness of Romer v. Evans

Journal Article North Carolina Law Review · 1998 Link to item Cite

Laying it on the Line: A Dialogue on Line Item Vetoes and Separation of Powers

Journal Article Duke Law Journal · 1998 Link to item Cite

The Province and Duty of Political Departments

Journal Article University of Chicago Law Review · 1998 Cite

Loyalty to the Law: Politics and the Practice of Public Lawyering in the United States

Journal Article Notre Dame Law Review · 1996 Link to item Cite

The Attorney General's First Separation of Powers Opinion

Journal Article Constitutional Commentary · 1996 Link to item Cite

Book Review

Journal Article American Journal of Legal History · 1996 Cite

Book Review

Journal Article Journal of American History · 1996 Cite

Enumerated Means and Unlimited Ends

Journal Article Michigan Law Review · 1995 Link to item Cite

Creation as Apocalyptic: A Homage to William Stringfellow

Chapter · 1995 Cite

The Principles of '98: An Essay in Historical Retrieval

Journal Article Virginia Law Review · 1994 Link to item Cite

The Constitutionality of the Bank Bill: The Attorney General's First Constitutional Law Opinions

Journal Article Duke Law Journal · 1994 Link to item Cite

Joseph Story

Chapter · 1994 Cite

Constitutional Investigations

Journal Article Texas Law Review · 1994 Link to item Cite

The Constitutionality of the Bank Bill: The Attorney General's First Constitutional Law Opinions

Journal Article Duke Law Journal · 1994 Link to item Cite

The Political Grammar of Early Constitutional Law

Journal Article North Carolina Law Review · 1993 Link to item Cite

The Moral Tradition of American Constitutionalism: A Theological Interpretation

Book · 1993 Link to item Cite

Book Review

Journal Article Journal of American History · 1993 Cite

Book Review

Journal Article William & Mary Quarterly · 1993 Cite

"Cardozo's Foot": The Chancellor's Conscience and Constructive Trusts

Journal Article Law & Contemporary Problems · 1993 Link to item Cite

Enslaved to Judicial Supremacy?

Journal Article Harvard Law Review · 1993 Cite

The Oldest Question of Constitutional Law

Journal Article Virginia Law Review · 1993 Link to item Cite

Book Review

Journal Article Journal of American History · 1993 Cite

Calder v. Bull, Higher Law

Chapter · 1992 Cite

Languages of Power: A Source Book of Early American Constitutional History

Book · 1991 Link to item Cite

Transparency, Opacity and Openness in Narrative

Journal Article Journal of Legal Education · 1990 Link to item Cite

Social Theory as Exegetical Tool

Journal Article Forum · 1989 Cite

The Uses of State Constitutional History: A Case Note

Journal Article Albany Law Review · 1989 Link to item Cite

Rationality of the Common Law

Journal Article Notre Dame Law Review · 1989 Cite

Book Review

Journal Article William & Mary Quarterly · 1989 Cite

Reimagining the Marshall Court

Journal Article Michigan Law Review · 1989 Cite

Faith in the Republic: A Francis Lewis Law Center Conversation

Journal Article Washington & Lee Law Review · 1988 Cite

The Gospel According to Roberto: A Theological Polemic

Journal Article Duke Law Journal · 1988 Link to item Cite

Reviving Republicanism

Journal Article Yale Law Journal · 1988 Link to item Cite

The Ambiguities of Pledging Faith

Journal Article William & Mary Law Review · 1987 Link to item Cite

Rules for Originalists

Journal Article Virginia Law Review · 1987 Link to item Cite

How the Constitution Structures Government: The Founders' Views

Chapter · 1987 Cite

The Modern Misunderstanding of Original Intent

Journal Article University of Chicago Law Review · 1987 Cite

The Rehnquist Court: A Dissenting Opinion

Journal Article Iowa Advocate · 1986 Cite

Parchment Matters: A Meditation on the Constitution as Text

Journal Article Iowa Law Review · 1986 Link to item Cite

Book Note

Journal Article Law and History Review · 1986 Cite