A. Christopher Bryant
A. Christopher Bryant
Rufus King Professor of Constitutional Law, College of Law
511 College of Law Building
Areas of Interest: Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, Federal Courts, Legal History
About
Since joining the College of Law faculty in 2003, Professor A. Christopher Bryant has been a prolific scholar and an exceptionally skilled and award-winning teacher of constitutional law.
Professor Bryant’s numerous published articles and essays reach a wide range of issues of contemporary constitutional importance, including the separation of powers, judicial review, and the roles of the various branches of the national government in constitutional interpretation. He is a recognized expert on the scope and exercise of national legislative power and the respect that Congressional action is owed from the federal judiciary, with leading articles on the subject published in the Cornell Law Review, George Washington Law Review, BYU Law Review, Notre Dame Journal of Legislation, and William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. Professor Bryant’s research in federalism and unenumerated rights include a co-authored book, “Powers Reserved for the People and the States”: A History of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments (Greenwood Press 2006), as well as articles in the Georgia Law Review and the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, to name only a few. He authored thirteen essays on landmark constitutional cases for the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States(Macmillan 2008), and is a frequent speaker on the Constitution, the Congress, and the federal courts at symposiums, conferences, and public programs.
Professor Bryant is a member of the America Society for Legal History and the Federalist Society and also serves as faculty advisor to the College’s Federalist Society chapter.
Professor Bryant previously was a law professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he taught in the areas of federal courts, legislative process and statutory interpretation, criminal law, and conflicts.
Before beginning his academic career, Professor Bryant served as Assistant Senate Legal Counsel in the U.S. Senate Office of Legal Counsel and as an associate at Shea & Gardner in Washington, D.C. After earning his JD, Professor Bryant clerked for the Hon. James L. Buckley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
About
BA, Hanover College
JD, University of Chicago
Courses
- Conflicts of Law
- Constitutional Law I
- Constitutional Law II
- Legislation & Statutory Interpretation
Publications
- "Powers Reserved for the People and the States": A History of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments (with Thomas B. McAffee & Jay S. Bybee) (Praeger Publishers, 2006)
- Constitutional Newspeak: Learning to Love the Affordable Care Act Decision, 39 NOTRE DAME J. OF LEG. 15 (2013).
- Constitutional Forbearance, 46 U. RICHMOND L. REV. 695 (2012).
- Nigro v. United States: The Most Disingenuous Supreme Court Opinion, Ever, 12 NEV. L.J. 650 (2012).
- Foreign Law as Legislative Fact in Constitutional Cases, 2011 BYU L. REV. 1005.
- What McDonald Means for Unenumerated Rights, 45 GA. L. REV. 1073 (2011).
- The Pursuit of Perfection: Congressional Power to Enforce the Reconstruction Amendments, 47 HOUS. L. REV. 579 (2010).
- The Empirical Judiciary, 26 Const. Comment. 467 (2009) (reviewing David L. Faigman, Constitutional Fictions: A Unified Theory of Constitutional Facts (Oxford University Press, 2008))
- City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Gravel v. United States, Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining and Reclamation, Younger v. Harris, Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Louisiana Power & Light v. City of Thibodaux, Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, Braniff Airways, Inc. v. Nebraska State Board of Equalization, City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, Missouri v. Jenkins, and Nixon v. Fitzgerald in Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (Macmillan, forthcoming 2008) (David S. Tanenhaus, ed.)
- Presidential Signing Statements and Congressional Oversight, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 169 (2007) (symposium)
- The Third Death of Federalism, 17 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 101 (2007)
- Quirin Revisited, 2003 Wis. L. Rev. 309 (with Carl Tobias)
- Stopping Time: The Pro-Slavery and "Irrevocable" Thirteenth Amendment, 26 Harv. J. Law & Pub. Pol'y 501 (2003)
- Retroactive Application of "New Rules" and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 70 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1 (2002)
- Youngstown Revisited, 29 Hastings Const. L. Q. 373 (2002) (with Carl Tobias)
- Haste Makes Waste, Nevada Lawyer (May 2001)
- Haste Makes Waste for U.S. Supreme Court: Agreeing to Hear Bush v. Gore Left Justices Little Time for Deliberations, Hanover Quarterly 22 (Spring 2001)
- Reading the Law in the Office of Calvin Fletcher: The Apprenticeship System and the Practice of Law in Frontier Indiana , 1 Nev. L.J. 19 (2001) (symposium)
- Remanding to Congress: The Supreme Court's New "On the Record" Constitutional Review of Federal Statutes, 86 Cornell L. Rev. 328 (2001) (with Timothy J. Simeone)
- Court Shouldn’t Have Rushed to Judgment, Reno Gazette-Journal 11A (December 23, 2000)
- Haste Makes Waste: High Court Didn’t Have the Time to Decide Issue Deliberately, Las Vegas Review-Journal (December 17, 2000)
- CLE Presentation, “The Power of the Presidential Pen and the Take Care Clause,” UC Law Downtown Teach-In for Student Scholarships, Cincinnati, OH, April 29, 2016.
- CLE Presentation, “Birthright Citizenship: A Constitutional Imperative?” Inn of Court Meeting, Cincinnati Bar Association, March 15, 2016.
- Colloquium, “Is the Rational Basis Test Unconstitutional?” Georgetown Center for the Constitution, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., Feb. 12, 2016. CLE
- Panel Presentation, “The Empirics of Legal Interpretation,” AALS Law & Interpretation Section, AALS Annual Meeting, New York, NY, Jan. 9, 2016.
- Panel Presentation, “Constitutional Law from the Ground Up: How the Prohibition on ‘Under-ruling’ Distorts the Judicial Function,” Federalist Society Works-in-Progress Session, 18th Annual Faculty Conference, New York, NY, Jan. 8, 2016.
- Presentation, “Birthright Citizenship: A Constitutional Imperative?” UC Law Alumni Board CLE program, Cincinnati, OH, Nov. 6, 2015.
- Symposium, “Taft’s Constitutional Jurisprudence: The Evolution of a President’s Views on Presidential Power,” Taft National Historic Site, Oct. 31, 2015.
- Presentation, “Founding Documents in the Classroom,” Ohio Center for Law Related Education’s annual Law & Citizenship Conference (for secondary school civics/social studies teachers), Dublin, OH, Sept. 21, 2015.
- Scholarship Workshop, “How the Prohibition on Under-ruling Distorts the Judicial Function,” University of Cincinnati College of Law, August 12, 2015 (with Kimberly Breedon).
- “William Howard Taft and the UC College of Law: A Life-long Partnership and an Enduring Legacy,” Taft Historic Site, NPS, Cincinnati, OH, July 29, 2015.
- “Supreme Court Fault Lines in Health and Romance” UC Law Downtown Teach-In for Student Scholarships, Cincinnati, OH, March 6, 2015.
- “An Unhappy 48th Birthday?: The Voting Rights Act After Shelby County v. Holder,” UC Law Downtown Teach-In for Student Scholarships, Cincinnati, OH, March 7, 2014.
- “S.B. 165: Five Historic Documents: Their Historical Context, Original Meaning & Enduring Significance,” Taft Historic Site, NPS, Cincinnati, OH, September 28, 2013 (an Ohio Historical Society Program for Cincinnati Public School Teachers).
- “Chief Justice Taft’s Constitutional Jurisprudence: The Evolution of a President’s Views on Presidential Power,” Taft Historic Site, NPS, Cincinnati, OH, April 6, 2013.
- “Federalism After ‘Obamacare,’” UC Law Downtown Teach-In for Student Scholarships, Cincinnati, OH, March 1, 2013.
- Seminar Participant, Economics for Law Professors, Estes Park, CO, July 15-27, 2012.
- “Constitutional Forbearance,” presented as part of a symposium at the University of Richmond School of Law, November 11, 2011.
- Scholarship Workshop, “Constitutional Forbearance,” Washington & Lee School of Law, March 21, 2011.
Awards
- 2024 Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching
- 2015 Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching
- 2013 Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching
- 2008 Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching
- 2007 Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching
- 2005 Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching
- 2001 Law Professor of the Year