Professor Robert G. Natelson is a constitutional scholar and author.
Rob’s constitutional scholarship has been cited repeatedly by justices and parties at the U.S. Supreme Court—as well as by federal appeals courts, and at least 18 state supreme courts.
Rob’s research into the Constitution’s original meaning has carried him to libraries throughout the United States and in Britain, including four months at Oxford University. His books and articles span many different parts of the Constitution, including groundbreaking studies of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Indian Commerce Clause, federalism, Founding-Era interpretation, regulation of elections, and the amendment process of Article V. He created the first-ever online bibliography for 18th century materials used in constitutional research. He is a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (on Magna Carta). He contributed eight essays to the third edition of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution: five on the amendment procedure and one each on the Guarantee Clause, the Postal Clause, and the Recess Appointments Clause.
U.S. Supreme Court justices have relied explicitly on Rob’s research in 41 citations in 13 separate cases.
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Reviewing The Supreme Court’s 2015/16 Term: A Panel Discussion
Greenberg Traurig 1200 17th Street, Suite 2400Denver, Colorado 80202
The Burgeoning Movement to Rein in the Federal Government With a Convention of States
FIU College of Law, RDB 2008Miami, Florida 33199
Reviewing The Supreme Court’s 2013/14 Term: A Panel Discussion
Maggianos Little Italy, 500 16th Street Denver, Colorado 80202Denver, Colorado 80202
Applying the Founders' Originalism
Federalist Society Review, Volume 26
The 1787 Federal Convention drafted, and the ratifiers approved, the United States Constitution under the...
Moore v. United States and the Uncertainty About “Direct” and “Indirect” Taxes
Our Constitution distinguishes between direct and indirect taxes. Indirect tax rates must be uniform throughout...
The Meaning of “Regulate Commerce” to the Constitution’s Ratifiers: An Update
Constitutional Background The constitutional justification for much of the federal regulatory and administrative apparatus rests...
The False Doctrine of Inherent Sovereign Authority
Federalist Society Review, Volume 24
This essay examines the hypothesis that the federal government and its departments and officials hold...
With an Originalist Understanding of the First Amendment, the 303 Creative Case Would Have Been Much Easier
On the last day of its recent term, the Supreme Court decided 303 Creative v....
