Faculty Profiles — The Founders' Constitution

Biographical Sketch

Eric Claeys is a Professor of Law at the School of Law at George Mason University. He has also taught at Saint Louis University School of Law and the University of Chicago Law School. Before teaching, he practiced appellate and tort litigation and clerked for the Hon. Melvin Brunetti, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Hon. William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States.

Professor Claeys' scholarship focuses on American property and constitutional law, and particularly on the influence of American natural-law/natural-rights theory on the law.

Biographical Sketch

PATRICK HENRY PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT NELSON LUND has written widely in the field of constitutional law, including articles on constitutional interpretation, federalism, separation of powers, the Second Amendment, the Commerce Clause, the Speech or Debate Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Uniformity Clause. In addition, he has published articles in the fields of employment discrimination and civil rights, the legal regulation of medical ethics, and the application of economic analysis to legal institutions and legal ethics.

Professor Lund left the faculty of the University of Chicago to attend its law school, where he served as executive editor of the University of Chicago Law Review and chapter chairman of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. After law school, he held positions at the United States Department of Justice in the Office of the Solicitor General and the Office of Legal Counsel. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Patrick E. Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and to the Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor of the United States Supreme Court. Following his clerkship with Justice O'Connor, Professor Lund served in the White House as associate counsel to the president from 1989 to 1992.

Since joining the faculty at George Mason, Professor Lund has taught Constitutional Law, Legislation, Federal Election Law, Employment Discrimination, State and Local Government, and seminars on the Second Amendment and on a variety of topics in Jurisprudence.

Biographical Sketch

PROFESSOR OF LAW JOYCE LEE MALCOLM is a historian and constitutional scholar active in the area of constitutional history, focusing on the development of individual rights in Great Britain and America. She has written many books and articles on gun control, the Second Amendment, and individual rights. Her work was cited several times in the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller.

Professor Malcolm has previously taught at Princeton University, Bentley College, Boston University, Northeastern University and Cambridge University.  She was also a Senior Advisor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies Program, a Visiting Scholar at Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, and is a Bye Fellow at Robinson College, Cambridge University.

Her seventh book, Peter's War: A New England Slave Boy and the American Revolution, published by Yale University Press is now available. Her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe and other newspapers.

Biographical Sketch

JEREMY RABKIN is a Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. Before joining the faculty in June 2007, he was a Professor of Government at Cornell University for 27 years. Professor Rabkin is a renowned scholar in international law and was recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace. He holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Government at Harvard University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. from Cornell University.

His full-length books include Law Without Nations? (Princeton University Press, 2005), The Case for Sovereignty (AEI Press, 2004), Why Sovereignty Matters (AEI Press, 1998), Judicial Compulsions, How Public Law Distorts Public Policy (Basic Books, 1989). He also co-edited (with L. Gordon Crovitz) The Fettered Presidency, Legal Limitations and the Conditions of Responsible Policymaking (AEI Press 1989).

Professor Rabkin also has written numerous chapters in edited books, articles in academic journals, and essays. He received recognition as "Best Professor" in a 2002 Readers Poll of the Ithaca Times.

In addition to international law, Professor Rabkin has a particular interest in national security law and early constitutional history. He teaches Mason Law's unique course entitled "The Founders' Constitution," as well as International Law.