Professor Mark W. Smith is a Presidential Scholar and a Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy at The King’s College. Prior to joining The King’s College, Professor Smith was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Kansas School of Law, where he researched and taught a course on constitutional law, the Second Amendment, and related topics.
His particular academic interests include:
- The appropriate role of text, history, and tradition in interpreting the Bill of Rights.
- English and early-American legal history.
- The legitimacy of the “tiers of scrutiny” framework in American constitutional law.
- The potential role of David Hackett Fischer’s Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought as a potential methodology for solving debates about the proper application of America’s history to resolve complex questions of constitutional interpretation.
- The proper relationship between the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts in the hierarchical federal judiciary.
- The use of “lawfare” in the American legal system.
Professor Smith is a sought out public policy expert, and his opinions are sought after by a broad range of media outlets. Policy Experts: Insider Guide to Public Policy Experts and Organizations and the Journalist Guide to Legal Policy Experts lists Professor Smith as a public policy expert on subjects touching on American constitutional law.
Professor Smith has lectured and presented widely at academic and scholarly conferences, and has spoken at the Harvard Law School, Princeton University, Columbia Law School, NYU School of Law, and the Wharton Business School (MBA) at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Smith is scheduled to appear later in 2020 at the Yale University Law School. Professor Smith is also a regular speaker at the Federalist Society’s Annual Lawyers Convention held each year in Washington, D.C. In the fall 2019, he delivered an address on originalism, populism, and the Second Amendment at the Federalist Society’s national convention, which attracts some of the most influential and important legal scholars in the United States and around the world. In attendance at the 2019 Lawyers Convention were Samuel Alito, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; William Barr, the Attorney General of the United States; and numerous currently sitting judges.
Professor Smith is a former editor of the New York University Environmental Law Journal and is a former guest editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Professor Smith’s work has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (forthcoming spring 2020), the Oklahoma Law Review, and the Seton Hall Legislative Journal. He is also a New York Times bestselling author who has authored six books.
In addition to his research and writing efforts as Senior Fellow, Professor Smith also serves as the Legal Academic Research Director of the Project on Criminal Justice Reform, which explores the role of the Italian Enlightenment thinker Cesare Beccaria on America’s Founding generation and what role, if any, should Beccaria’s thinking have on modern day criminal justice issues.
Special Session: The Future of the Second Amendment's Right to Keep and Bear Arms: From the Supreme Court to Social Unrest in the Streets
2020 National Lawyers Convention
Zoom Webinar
Originalism, Populism, and the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms
2019 National Lawyers Convention
The Mayflower Hotel1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
2019 National Lawyers Convention
Originalism
The Mayflower Hotel1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Lunch and Keynote Address by Renée Lerner
The Second Amendment In The New Supreme Court
National Press Club529 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20045
Special Session: The Future of the Second Amendment's Right to Keep and Bear Arms: From the Supreme Court to Social Unrest in the Streets
2020 National Lawyers Convention
On November 13, 2020, The Federalist Society hosted a virtual panel for the 2020 National...
Special Session: The Future of the Second Amendment's Right to Keep and Bear Arms: From the Supreme Court to Social Unrest in the Streets
2020 National Lawyers Convention
On November 13, 2020, The Federalist Society hosted a virtual panel for the 2020 National...
The Right to Bear Arms
Civil Rights Practice Group Teleforum
Does the Second Amendment “right of the people” to “bear arms” protect an individual right...
Second Amendment Historian Stephen Halbrook Demonstrates that Americans Have—and Always Had—a Fundamental Right to Carry Firearms Outside of the Home
Stephen Halbrook’s recent, important paper in the Federalist Society Review, To Bear Arms for Self-Defense:...
Originalism, Populism, and the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms
2019 National Lawyers Convention
On November 15, 2019, the Federalist Society's practice groups hosted a special session for the...