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Publication of “Painting Constitutional Law: Xavier Cortada’s Images of Constitutional Rights”

January 14, 2021

Painting Constitutional Law
Xavier Cortada’s Images of Constitutional Rights

In May It Please the Court, artist Xavier Cortada portrays ten significant decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States that originated from people, places, and events in Florida. These cases cover the rights of criminal defendants, the rights of free speech and free exercise of religion, and the powers of states.

In Painting Constitutional Law, scholars of constitutional law analyse the paintings and cases, describing the law surrounding the cases and discussing how Cortada captures these foundational decisions, their people, and their events on canvas. This book explores new connections between contemporary art and constitutional law.

Series: Legal History Library, Volume: 46
Volume Editors: M.C. Mirow and Howard M. Wasserman

Contributors are: Renée Ater, Mary Sue Backus, Kathleen A. Brady, Jenny E. Carroll, Erwin Chemerinsky, Xavier Cortada, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Leslie Kendrick, Corinna Barrett Lain, Paul Marcus, Linda C. McClain, M.C. Mirow, James E. Pfander, Laura S. Underkuffler, and Howard M. Wasserman.


Notes on Contributors

Renée D. Ater

is Associate Professor of American Art Emeritus at the University of Maryland. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and has written many works on the relationship among art, race, gender, national identity, and public culture. She is the author of Remaking Race and History: The Sculpture of Met Warrick Fuller (2011) and co-author of a study on Xavier Cortada, ‘Art in the Anthropocene,’ published in American Art (2014).

Mary Sue Backus

is Robert Glenn Rapp Foundation Presidential Professor at the University of Oklahoma. She holds a J.D. from the College of William and Mary and has published widely on criminal law and the right to counsel.

Kathleen A. Brady

is Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. She holds a Master of Arts in Religion and J.D. from Yale University. She is the author of The Distinctiveness of Religion in American Law: Rethinking Religion Clause Jurisprudence (2015).

Jenny E. Carroll

is Wiggins, Childs, Quinn, and Pantazis Professor of Law at the University of Alabama. She holds a J.D. from the University of Texas and an LL.M. from Georgetown University. She has published widely on juries in the criminal-justice system, including articles in Georgetown Law Journal and book chapters for Cambridge University Press.

Erwin Chemerinsky

is the Dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He holds a J.D. from Harvard University and is one of the most frequently cited legal scholars in the country. He is the author of numerous books on constitutional law, most recently Closing the Courthouse Door: How the Supreme Court Has Made Your Rights Unenforceable (2017).

Xavier Cortada

is Professor of Practice at the University of Miami Department of Art and Art History. He grew up in Miami and holds degrees from the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, School of Law, and Graduate School of Business. His work merges art with other disciplines, including law, science, and politics.

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

is Professor of Law at Washington College of Law, American University. He hold an LL.M. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Why Jury Duty Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Constitutional Action (2012).

Leslie C. Kendrick

is Albert Clarke Tate, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. She holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar and a J.D. from the University of Virginia. A former clerk to Justice David Souter of the Supreme Court of the United States, she has published extensively on the freedom of speech in journals such as Harvard Law ReviewColumbia Law Review, and the Supreme Court Review.

Corinna Barrett Lain

is S.D. Roberts and Sandra Moore Professor of Law at the University of Richmond. She holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia. She has published on the death penalty in ucla Law ReviewGeorgetown Law Journal, and Duke Law Journal.

Paul Marcus

is Haynes Professor of Law at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary. He hold a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. A recognized expert in criminal law, he is the co-author of several national casebooks on criminal law, criminal procedure, and criminal defenses. He was recently president of the American Association of Law Schools.

Linda C. McClain

is Professor of Law and the Paul M. Siskind Research Scholar at Boston University. She holds a J.D. from Georgetown University and an LL.M. from nyu, and has held fellowships at Harvard and Princeton Universities. She is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles on family, gender, and law, including The Place of Families: Fostering Capacity, Equality, and Responsibility (2006).

M.C. Mirow

is Professor of Law at Florida International University. He holds a J.D. from Cornell University and Ph.D.s from Cambridge and Leiden Universities. He is the author of Latin American Constitutions (2015) and Florida’s First Constitution (2012).

James E. Pfander

is Owen L. Coon Professor of Law at Northwestern University. He holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the federal courts including Constitutional Torts and the War on Terror (2017) and One Supreme Court: Supremacy, Inferiority, and the Judicial Power of the United States (2009).

Laura S. Underkuffler

is J. DuPratt White Professor of Law at Cornell University. She holds a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law and a J.S.D. from Yale University. She is the author of numerous articles on property and constitutional law and of the book The Idea of Property: its Meaning and Power (2003).

Howard M. Wasserman

is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at Florida International University. He holds a J.D. from Northwestern University and has published on the First Amendment and civil rights, including Understanding Civil Rights Litigation (2018).


To learn more about Painting Constitutional Law, please visit www.cortada.com/paintingconlaw