Biography
Michael J. Perry

Robert W. Woodruff
Professor of Law
Curriculum Vitae
Publications List
Areas of Expertise
Constitutional Law, Law and Religion, Law and Morality, Human Rights
Biography
Michael John Perry specializes in three areas: (1) American constitutional law and theory, with an emphasis on constitutional rights and on the courts’ role—especially the U.S. Supreme Court’s role—in protecting constitutional rights; (2) law, morality, and religion, with an emphasis on the role of religiously based morality in the law and politics of liberal democracy; and (3) human rights theory.
Perry is the author of over 60 articles and essays and 11 books, including Love and Power: The Role of Religion and Morality in American Politics (Oxford, 1991), The Idea of Human Rights (Oxford, 1998), We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court (Oxford, 1999), Under God? Religious Faith and Liberal Democracy (Cambridge, 2003), Toward a Theory of Human Rights: Religion, Law, Courts (Cambridge, 2007); Constitutional Rights, Moral Controversy, and the Supreme Court (Cambridge, 2009). His eleventh book, The Political Morality of Liberal Democracy, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2010. Perry is presently writing a book titled An Introduction to Human Rights: Morality, Politics, and International Law, to be published by Routledge.
Perry has held, since 2003, a Robert W. Woodruff University Chair at Emory University, where he teaches in the law school. A Woodruff Chair is the highest honor Emory University bestows on a member of its faculty. Before coming to Emory, Perry was the inaugural occupant of the Howard J. Trienens Chair in Law at Northwestern University (1990-97), where he taught for fifteen years (1982-97). Perry then held the University Distinguished Chair in Law at Wake Forest University (1997-2003). Perry began his teaching career at the Ohio State University College of Law (1975-82) and has taught as a visiting professor at several law schools, including Yale (1978-79), Tulane (1987), New York Law School (1990), the University of Alabama (2005) and the University of Western Ontario, Canada (2009).
During the 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 academic years, Perry is splitting his time between Emory University and the University of San Diego, where, as the University Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law and Peace Studies, he is teaching a course on the law and morality of international human rights both to law students and to graduate students at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies.
Perry was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He did his undergraduate work at Georgetown University, where he majored in philosophy and minored in religion (AB, 1968). Perry studied law at Columbia University (JD, 1973). He then served as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein (1973-74) and, a year later, to U.S. Circuit Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler (1974-75). In 1999, Perry was awarded an LLD (honoris causa) by St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota.
Perry is married to Sarah O’Leary, who is a public health specialist with the Centers for Disease Control. They have two children: Daniel (b. 1989) and Gabriel (b. 1991).
Publications
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Protecting Constitutionally Entrenched Human Rights: What Role Should the Supreme Court Play? (with Special Reference to Capital Punishment, Abortion and Same-Sex Unions) Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 06-9 2006
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Why the Federal Marriage Amendment is Not Only Not Necessary, But a Bad Idea: A Response to Christopher Wolfe 42 San Diego L. Rev. 925 2005
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Morality of Human Rights: A Nonreligious Ground, The 54 Emory L.J. 97 2005
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The Morality of Human Rights: A Nonreligious Ground? Emory Law Journal, Vol. 54, pp. 97-150 2005
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Capital Punishment and the Morality of Human Rights Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 2005
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Why Religion in Politics Does Not Violate La Conception Americaine De La Laicite Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 05-1 2005
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Why the Federal Marriage Amendment is not Only not Necessary, but a Bad Idea Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 05-30, San Diego Law Review, Vol. 42, pp. 925-34 2005
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A Right to Religious Freedom? The Universality of Human Rights, the Relativity of Culture Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 05-11, Roger Williams University Law Review, Vol. 10, p. 349 2005
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What do the Free Exercise and Nonestablishment Norms Forbid? Reflections on the Constitutional Law of Religious Freedom University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Forthcoming 2004
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Protecting Human Rights in a Democracy: What Role for the Courts 38 Wake Forest L. Rev. 635 2003
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Protecting Human Rights in a Democracy: What Role for the Courts? Wake Forest Law Review, Vol. 38 2003
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Under God? Religious Faith and Liberal Democracy Michael J. Perry, UNDER GOD? RELIGIOUS FAITH AND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY, Cambridge University Press 2003
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Religion, Politics, and Abortion 79 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 1 2002
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What Does the Establishment Clause Forbid? Reflections on the Constitutionality of School Vouchers SCHOOL CHOICE: THE MORAL DEBATE, Alan Wolfe, ed., Princeton University Press, Forthcoming 2002
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Christians, the Bible, and Same-Sex Unions: An Argument for Political Self-Restraint 36 Wake Forest L. Rev. 449 2001
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Catholics, the Magisterium, and Moral Controversy: An Argument for Independent Judgement (with Particular Reference to Catholic Law Schools) 26 U. Dayton L. Rev. 293 2001
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Why Political Reliance on Religiously Grounded Morality Does Not Violate the Establishment Clause 42 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 663 2001
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Religion, Politics, and Abortion University of Detroit Mercy Law Review, Vol. 79 2001
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Why Political Reliance on Religiously Grounded Morality is Not Illegitimate in a Liberal Democracy 36 Wake Forest L. Rev. 217 2001
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Why Political Reliance on Religiously Grounded Morality Does Not Violate the Establishment Clause William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 42, pp. 663-683 2001
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Freedom of Religion in the United States: Fin de Siecle Sketches 75 Ind. L.J. 295 2000
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What Is Morality Anyway 45 Vill. L. Rev. 69 2000
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A Few Words of Gratitude 14 J. L. & Religion 161 2000
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"What is 'Morality' Anyway?" Published as the Fall 1999 Villanova University School of Law Giannella Lecture by the Villanova Law Review. 2000
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Liberal Democracy and Religious Morality 48 DePaul L. Review 1 1999
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Response: The Law Professor as Moral Philosopher 11 Yale J.L. & Human. 415 1999
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We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court Oxford University Press, August 1999
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Are Human Rights Universal - The Relativist Challenge and Related Matters 19 Hum. Rts. Q. 461 1997
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Normative Indeterminacy and the Problem of Judicial Role 19 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 375 1996
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Religion in Politics 29 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 729 1996
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Religious Arguments in Public Political Debate 29 Loy. L. A. L. Rev. 1421 1996
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Brown, Bolling, & (and) Orginalism: Why Ackerman and Posner (Among Others) Are Wrong 20 S. Ill. U. L. J. 53 1996
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Religion, Politics, and the Constitution 7 J. Contem. Legal Issues 407 1996
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The Idea of a Catholic University 78 Marq. L. Rev. 325 1995
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The Morality of Homosexual Conduct: A Response to John Finnis 9 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol'y 41 1995
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The Gospel According to Dworkin 11 Const. Comment. 163 1995
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Constitution, the Courts, and the Question of Minimalism 88 Nw. U. L. Rev. 84 1994
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The Idea of Human Rights and the Matter of Rights-Talk 28 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 587 1994
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Religious Morality and Political Choice: Further Thoughts--And Second Thoughts--on Love and Power 30 San Diego L. Rev. 703 1993
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Is the Idea of Human Rights Ineliminably Religious 27 U. Rich. L. Rev. 1023 1993
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The Argument for Judicial Review - And for the Originalist Approach to Judicial Review (the Ben J. Altheimer Lecture) 14 UALR L. J. 613 1992
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Constitutional Indeterminacy: Judicial Specification and Moral Justification 55 Alb. L. Rev. 561 1992
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Toward an Ecumenical Politics 20 Cap. U. L. Rev. 1 1991
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The Legitimacy of Particular Conceptions of Constitutional Interpretation 77 Va. L. Rev. 669 1991
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Constitutional Judgment as Moral Judgment: A Brief Comment 61 U. Colo. L. Rev. 803 1990
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Why Constitutional Theory Matters to Constitutional Practice and Vice Versa 6 Const. Comment. 231 1989
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Brief Comment 63 Tul. L. Rev. 1673 1989
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Conscientious Disobedience 11 Hamline L. Rev. 1 1988
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Preface 81 Nw. U. L. Rev. 589 1987
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Interpreting the Constitution 1987 BYU L. Rev. 1157 1987
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A Critique of the Liberal Political-Philosophical Project 28 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 205 1987
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Moral Knowledge, Moral Reasoning, Moral Relativism: A Naturalist Perspective 20 Ga. L. Rev. 995 1986
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Comment on the Limits of Rationality and the Place of Religious Conviction: Protecting Animals and the Environment 27 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1067 1986
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Some Notes on Absolutism Consequentialism and Incommensurability 79 Nw. U. L. Rev. 967 1985
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Comment on the Nylon Curtain: America's National Border and the Free Flow of Ideas 26 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 793 1985
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The Authority of Text, Tradition, and Reason: A Theory of Constitutional Interpretation 58 S. Cal. L. Rev. 551 1985
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Taking Neither Rights-Talk nor the Critique of Rights Too Seriously 62 Tex. L. Rev. 1405 1984
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Judicial Activism 7 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 69 1984
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Freedom of Expression: An Essay on Theory and Doctrine 78 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1137 1984
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Equal Protection, Judicial Activism, and the Intellectual Agenda of Constitutional Theory: Reflections on, and beyond, Plyler v. Doe 44 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 329 1983
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The Principle of Equal Protection 32 Hastings L.J. 1133 1981
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Interpretivism, Freedom of Expression, and Equal Protection 42 Ohio St. L.J. 261 1981
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Noninterpretive Review in Human Rights Cases: A Functional Justification 56 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 278 1981
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Why the Supreme Court was Plainly Wrong in the Hyde Amendment Case: A Brief Comment on Harris v. McRae 32 Stan. L. Rev. 1113 1980
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Modern Equal Protection: A Conceptualization and Appraisal 79 Colum L. Rev. 1023 1979
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The Abortion Funding Cases: A Comment on the Supreme Court's Role in American Government 66 Geo. L. J. 1191 1978
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A Brief Comment on Motivation and Impact 15 San Diego L. Rev. 1173 1978
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Substantive Due Process Revisited: Reflections on (and beyond) Recent Cases 71 Nw. U. L. Rev. 417 1977
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Disproportionate Impact Theory of Racial Discrimination 125 U. Pa. L. Rev. 540 1977
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Constitutional Fairness: Notes on Equal Protection and Due Process 63 Va. L. Rev. 383 1977
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Abortion, The Public Morals, and the Police Power: The Ethical Function of Substantive Due Process 23 UCLA L. Rev. 689 1976
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