Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law (Retired)
Gail Heriot is a recently retired law professor from the University of San Diego. She also served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 2007 to 2025. She is also the chairman of the board of the American Civil Rights Project and the chair emerita of the Civil Rights practice group at the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy.
Professor Heriot is a prolific writer in the area of civil rights. She is the author of many law review articles. She is also the editor (along with Maimon Schwarzschild) of the 2021 anthology, A Dubious Expediency: How Race Preferences Damage Higher Education. Her upcoming book is entitled, Why We Walk on Eggshell: How Our Civil Rights Laws Helped Bring About the Woke Era—And the Trump Era, Too.
Her writings for a general audience have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the National Review and many other newspapers and magazines.
In 1996, she co-chaired the successful “Yes on Proposition 209” campaign, which amended the California Constitution to prohibit state-sponsored discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. In 2020, she co-chaired the “No on Proposition 16” campaign, which successfully prevented Proposition 209’s repeal.
Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
Vice President, Practice Groups, The Federalist Society
Religious Exemptions
Topics
Texas Chapters Conference panels rundown
The Texas Chapter of the Federalist Society held its second annual chapter conference on September...
Fisher v. UT–Austin and the Future of Racial Preferences in College Admissions
Elizabeth Slattery
Note from the Editor: This article discusses the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fisher v. University...
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Congress Tries To Restrict Executive Actions
The Separation of Powers Restoration and Second Amendment Protection Act, H.R. 4321, is before the...
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"Affirmative Action Gone Wild?": Supreme Court Upholds Race Preferences in Fisher v. University of Texas II
I like to think I am unusually gifted at political prognostication because, in 2004, I...
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Decision Day Update
The Supreme Court released 5 more decisions this morning. Decisions in the other 3 cases...
Save the Date: Second Annual Texas Chapters Conference
Texas FedSoc members: The second annual Texas Chapters Conference has been scheduled for Saturday, September...
Does the University of Texas's Use of Racial Preferences Violate the Constitution?
Dallas, TexasCan Courts Get the Law Right? Judicial Review’s Problem with Objectivity
Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System