
Professor of Law and Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law
J.D., George Mason University School of Law
Areas of Expertise
- Constitutional Law
- Intersection of Law and Technology
- United States Supreme Court
Office: 623T
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is also an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Josh has authored three books. His latest, An Introduction to Constitutional Law, was a top-five bestseller on Amazon. Josh has written more than five dozen law review articles that have been cited nearly a thousand times. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracy and tweets @JoshMBlackman.
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ARTICLES
Offices and Officers of the Constitution Part IV: The “Office …Under the United States” Drafting Convention, 62 S. Tex. L. Rev. 455 (2023). (With Seth Barrett Tillman)
Offices and Officers of the Constitution Part III: The Appointments, Impeachment, Commissions, and Oath or Affirmation Clauses, 62 S. Tex. L. Rev. 349 (2023). (With Seth Barrett Tillman)
Judicial Courage, 26 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 355 (2021-2022).
The Unresolved Threshold Issues in the Emoluments Clauses Litigation: The President has Three Bodies and There is No Cause of Action for Ultra Vires Conduct, 20 Geo. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 163 (2022) (with Seth Barrett Tillman).
The Irrepressible Myth of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 70 Buff. L. Rev. 131 (2022).
The “Essential” Second Amendment, 26 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 159 (2021).
Offices and Officers of the Constitution Part I: An Introduction, 61 S. Tex. L. Rev. 309 (2021). (with Seth Barrett Tillman)
Offices and Officers of the Constitution Part II: The Four Approaches, 61 S. Tex. L. Rev. 321 (2021). (with Seth Barrett Tillman)
What Happens if the Biden Administration Prosecutes and Convicts Donald Trump of Violating 18 U.S.C. § 2383?, 2021 U. Ill. L. Rev. Online 190 (with Seth Barrett Tillman).
Is the President an ‘Officer of the United States’ for Purposes of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, 15 N.Y.U. J. L. & Liberty 1 (2021).
Unreviewable: The Final Installment in the ‘Epic’ Obamacare Trilogy, 2021 Cato Sup. Ct. Rev. 109.
Corpus Linguistics and Heller, 56 Wake Forest L. Rev. 609 (2021). (with James C. Phillips)
The “Essential” Free Exercise Clause, 44 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 637 (2021).
What Happens if the Biden Administration Prosecutes and Convicts Donald Trump of Violating 18 U.S.C. § 2383? 2021 U. Ill. L. Rev. Online 190 (with Seth Barrett Tillman)
The Right to Code and Share Arms, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 1 (2020).
October Term 2019 in Review: Blue June, 8/27/2020 U. Chi. L. Rev. Online 1.
#Heckled, 18 First Amend. L. Rev. 1 (2019).
The Once and Future Privileges or Immunities Clause, 26 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 1207 (2019) (with Ilya Shapiro).
Originalism and Stare Decisis in the Lower Courts, 13 N.Y.U. J. L. & Liberty 44 (2019)
ABA Model Rule 8.4(G) in the States, 68 Cath. U. L. Rev. 629 (2019).
Improper Commandeering, 21 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 959 (2019).
Remembering Professor Ronald Rotunda, 22 Chapman L. Rev. 257 (2019).
The Irrepressible Myth of Cooper v. Aaron, 107 Geo. L.J. 1135 (2019).
Five Unanswered Questions From Trump v. Hawaii, 51 Case W. Res. J. Int’l L. 139 (2019).
Silencing of a Conservative Speaker, 43 Hum. Rts. 21 (2018).
Undone: The New Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare, 23 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 1(2018).
Self-Plagiarism, 45 Fla. St. L. Rev. 641 (2018).
The Travel Bans, 2017-18 Cato Supreme Court Rev. 29 (2018).
The Domestic Establishment Clause, 23 Roger Williams L. Rev. 345 (2018).
Presidential Maladministration, 2018 Ill. L. Rev. 397 (2018)
Defiance and Surrender, 59 S. Tex. L. Rev. 157 (2017).
The Saving Construction at Five Years, 11 U. St. Thomas J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 72 (2017).
Foreword: SCOTUS after Scalia, 11 N.Y.U. J.L & Liberty 48 (2017).
Reply: A Pause For State Courts Considering Model 8 Rule 8.4(G) The First Amendment And “Conduct Related To The Practice Of Law,” 30 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 241 (2017).
The 9th Circuit’s Contrived Comedy Of Errors In Washington v. Trump, 95 Tex. L. Rev. See Also 18 (2017).
The Legal Resistance, 9 Faulkner L. Rev. 45 (2017).
State Judicial Sovereignty, 2016 Ill. L. Rev. 2033.
Gridlock, 130 Harv. L. Rev. 241 (2016).
A Very Texas Term At The Supreme Court: Examining The Decisions Affecting The Lone Star State, 79 Tex. B.J. 762 (2016).
Civil Rights? United States v. Texas (Scalia, J., Concurring), 2016 Cato Sup. Ct. Rev. 79
Restoring the Lost Confirmation, 83 U. Chi. L. Rev. Online 18 (2016) (with Randy E. Barnett).
Collective Liberty, 67 Hastings L.J. 623 (2016).
Government By Blog Post, 11 FIU L. Rev. 389 (2016).[ This essay is adapted from Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, & Executive Power (Cambridge University Press 2016).]
Popular Constitutionalism After Kelo, 23 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 255 (2016).
The Process of Marriage Equality, 43 Hastings Const. L.Q. 243 (2016).
Immigration Inside The Law, 55 Washburn L.J. 31 (2015).
The Legality Of Executive Action After King v. Burwell, 16 Engage: J. Federalist Soc’y Prac. Groups 8 (2015).
The Constitutionality Of DAPA Part II: Faithfully Executing The Law, 19 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 213 (2015).
The Constitutionality of DAPA Part I: Congressional Acquiescence to Deferred Action, 103 Geo. L.J. Online 96 (2015).
Obamacare & Man at Yale, 2014 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1241.
The Shooting Cycle, 46 Conn. L. Rev. 1513 (2014) (with Shelby Baird).
The Burden of Judging, 9 NYU J. L. & Liberty 1105 (2014).
What Happens if Data is Speech?, 16 U. Pa. J. Const. L. Heightened Scrutiny 25 (2014).
The 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, and 3D Printed Guns, 81 Tenn. L. Rev. 479 (2014).
Popular Constitutionalism and the Affordable Care Act, 27 Pub. Aff. Q. 179 (2013) (Peer-Reviewed).
Back To The Future Of Originalism, 16 Chap. L. Rev. 325 (2013).
Justice John Marshall Harlan: Professor of Law, 81 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1063 (2013). (with Bryan Frye and Michael McCloskey)
Originalism at the Right Time?, 90 Tex. L. Rev. See Also. 269 (2012).
Fantasy SCOTUS Crowdsourcing A Prediction Market for the Supreme Court, 10 Nw. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. 125 (with Adam Aft & Corey Carpenter).
The Constitutionality of Social Cost, 34 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 951 (2011).
Original Citizenship, 159 U. Pa. L. Rev. PENNUMBRA 95 (2010).
Outfoxed: Pierson v. Post and The Natural Law, 51 Am. J. Legal Hist. 417 (2011). Nominated by The Green Bag for “Exemplary Legal Writing” in long articles category for 2011.
Keeping Pandora’s Box Sealed: Privileges or Immunities, The Constitution in 2010, and Property Extending the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to the States, 8 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 1 (2010). (with Ilya Shapiro)
Equal Protection From Eminent Domain: Protecting The Home Of Olech’s Class Of One, 55 Loy. L. Rev. 697 (2010).
Youngstown’s Fourth Tier. Is There A Zone of Insight Beyond the Zone of Twilight?, 40 Memphis L. Rev. 541 (2010). (with Elizabeth Bahr)
The Tell-Tale Privileges or Immunities Clause, 2010 Cato Sup. Ct. Rev. 163. (with Alan Gura and Ilya Shapiro)
This Lemon Comes as a Lemon. The Lemon Test and the Pursuit of a Statute’s Secular Purpose, 20 Geo. Mason U. C.R. L.J. 351 (2010).
Omniveillance, Google, Privacy in Public, and the Right to Your Digital Identity: A Tort for Recording and Disseminating an Individual’s Image Over the Internet, 49 Santa Clara L. Rev. 313 (2009).
BOOK REVIEWS
The Supreme Court’s New Battlefield, 90 Tex. L. Rev. 1207 (2012)(reviewing Adam Winkler, Gunfight: the Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America (2011)).
BOOKS
An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know. 2d Ed. (Fredrick: Aspen Publishing, 2023). (With Randy E. Barnett)
Constitutional Rights: Cases in Context. 4th Ed. (New York: Wolters Kluwer, 2022). (with Randy E. Barnett).
An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know. (New York: Wolters Kluwer, 2020). (with Randy E. Barnett)
An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know. (New York: Wolters Kluwer, 2019). (with Randy E. Barnett)
Constitutional Structure: Cases in Context, 2d ed. (New York: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2018). (with Randy E. Barnett).
Constitutional Law: Cases in Context. 3d Ed. (New York: Wolters Kluwer, 2018). (with Randy E Barnett)
Constitutional Rights: Cases in Context. 2d Ed. (New York: Wolters Kluwer, 2018). (with Randy E Barnett)
Unraveled: Obamacare, Executive Power, & Religious Liberty. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare. (New York: PublicAffairs, 2013).
CHAPTERS
2021 Supplement, Constitutional law : cases in context. 3d Ed. (New York : Wolters Kluwer, 2021).
2020 Supplement, Constitutional law : cases in context. 3d Ed.; Constitutional Rights: Cases in Context. 2d Ed.; Constitutional Structure: Cases in Context. 2d Ed. (New York : Wolters Kluwer, 2020).
2019 Supplement, Constitutional law : Cases in Context. 3d ed.; Constitutional Rights: Cases in Context. 2d ed. (New York : Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2019).
From Being One L to Teaching One L, in One L Revisted. (FORTHCOMING). available at SSRN https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2118335
2017 Supplement, Constitutional law : Cases in Context. 2d ed.(New York : Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2017).
2016 Supplement, Constitutional law : Cases in Context. 2d ed.(New York : Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2016).
The Path of Big Data and the Law, in H. Kumar Jayasuriya & Kathryn A. Ritcheske, Big Data, Big Challenges in Evidence-Based Policy Making (St. Paul, MN: West Academic Publishing, 2015). available ast SSRN https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2332842
Popular Constitutionalism and the Affordable Care Act, in The Affordable Care Act Decision: Philosophical and Legal Implications (Fritz Allhoff and Mark Hall, Eds) (New York: Routledge, 2014).
COMMENTARIES, PRESENTATIONS & PROCEEDINGS
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