Distinguished Research Professor, Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, University of Notre Dame
Donald L. Drakeman is Distinguished Research Professor in the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government at the University of Notre Dame, and a Fellow of the Centre for Health Leadership and Enterprise at the University of Cambridge. His writings have been cited by the Supreme Courts of the United States and the Philippines. He has published seven books, including The Hollow Core of Constitutional Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Why We Need the Humanities (Palgrave, 2016), and Church, State, and Original Intent (Cambridge University Press, 2010). He received an A.B. magna cum laude from Dartmouth College; a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and he was the founding chair of the Advisory Council for the James Madison Program on American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.
Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence, Independence Institute
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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New Election Law Podcast: The Voting Booth
Election Assistance Commissioner Don Palmer—member of FedSoc's Free Speech & Election Law Practice Group Executive...
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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...
Establishing an Agreement to Disagree About Church and State
Donald L. Drakeman
A review of Nathan Chapman & Michael McConnell, Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause...
2023 Alumni Events
2023 National Lawyers Convention
Washington, DCTopics
Yim v. City of Seattle: The Fundamental Right to Exclude and to be Secure in the Home
A man’s house is his castle. His security against all the world. A bedrock proposition...
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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....
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New Hampshire Supreme Court Rejects Medical Monitoring
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has issued a decision rejecting a claim for medical monitoring...
The Meaning of "Regulate Commerce" to the Constitution's Ratifiers
Robert G. Natelson
I. Previous Scholarship[1] A. Views of “Commerce”: Traditional and “Mega” The Constitution grants Congress power...
2022 Alumni Events
2022 National Lawyers Convention
Washington, DCTopics
Should Attorneys Need to Work Full-time to Receive Bar Admission Reciprocity?
Nationwide, 42 states and the District of Columbia allow an avenue for admission to practice...