Jamin Raskin
Professor of Law
Director of the Law and Government Program
Office: Room 515F
Phone: 202-274-4011
E-mail: raskin@wcl.american.edu
The Director of WCL’s Program on Law and Government and founder of its acclaimed Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, Jamin Raskin teaches Constitutional Law, First Amendment, the Constitution and Public Education, and Legislation. He has written dozens of law review articles and essays and several influential books, including the Washington Post Bestseller Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People (2003), which examines patterns of conservative judicial activism and interference with democratic politics, and We the Students (2d ed. 2003), a CQ Press and Supreme Court Historical Society Bestseller which examines the Supreme Court’s treatment of America’s high school students and their rights. An active constitutional and public interest lawyer, Raskin has represented clients as diverse as Reverend Jesse Jackson, Ross Perot and Greenpeace, and was Chairman of Maryland’s State Higher Education Labor Relations Board.
In September 2006, he won a landslide upset victory in the Democratic Primary for State Senate from District 20 in Maryland (Silver Spring and Takoma Park), toppling a 32-year incumbent, and went on to win 99% of the vote in the November General Election. As a Senator in Maryland’s “citizen legislature,” Professor Raskin serves on the influential Judicial Proceedings Committee, the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics, the Joint Committee on the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Coast, and the Joint Committee on State-Federal Relations. Professor Raskin’s varied career in public life has included service as: general counsel of the National Rainbow Coalition, a member of President Clinton’s first Transition Team and a state assistant attorney general. In the 2000 presidential election, he introduced the provocative idea of Internet “vote pairing” (or “vote trading”) in Slate Magazine. During the Academic Year 2003-04, he was a visiting professor at Sciences Po in Paris and taught a course in comparative constitutional law and politics. He is fluent in French and has written articles for French publications.
Currently Teaching
Areas of Specialization
- The First Amendment
- The Constitution and Public Schools
- The Law of Democracy and Elections
Degrees & Universities
- J.D., Harvard Law School 1987
- B.A., Harvard College 1983
Selected Publications
- Jamin Raskin, Maryam Ahranjani, & Anderw Ferguson, Youth Justice in America (CQ Press May 2005).
- Jamin Raskin, Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court v. The American People (Routledge Mar. 2003).
- Jamin Raskin, What's Wrong With Bush v. Gore and Why We Need to Amend the Constitution to Ensure It Never Happens Again, 61 Md. L. Rev. 652 (2002).
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More Publications...
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Books
- Jamin Raskin, We the Students: A Constitutional Casebook For and About America's Students (2d ed., CQ Press 2003).
- Jamin Raskin & John Bonifaz, The Wealth Primary: Campaign Fundrasing and the Constitution (Center for Responsive Politics 1994).
Other Publications
- Jamin Raskin, AU Beyond Ladner: The Golden Parachute's Silver Lining, Wash. Post (Nov. 6, 2005).
- Jamin Raskin & Mary Beth Tinker, Black Armbands for Constitution Day, Education Week (Sept. 7, 2005).
- Jamin Raskin The Original Flag Desecration: By Playing with Fire, Tom Delay Might End Up Whistling Dixie, http://www.tompaine.com (July 4, 2005).
- Jamin Raskin, Professor Richard Pierce's Reign of Error in the Adminsitrative Law Review: Bureaucratic Extremism and the Rights of American Indians, 57 Admin L. Rev. (Spring 2005).
- Jamin Raskin, The Return of Vote-Pairing, Slate Mag. (Oct. 25, 2004).
- Jamin Raskin, Du droit de vote en Amerique, En Temps Reel et Liberation (Oct. 25, 2004).
- Jamin Raskin, A Dream Deferred, Wash. Post (July 4, 2004).
- Jamin Raskin, A Right-to-Vote Amendment for the U.S. Constitution: Confronting America's Structutal Democracy, 3 Election L.J. 556 (2004).
- Jamin Raskin, Courts v. Citizens, Am. Prospect (Mar. 2003).
- Jamin Raskin, The Rehnquist Court and the First Amendment, in The Rehnquist Court (Farrar Fall 2002).
- Jamin Raskin, I'll Tell You What's Really Wrong With the Petitions (No Signature Required), Wash. Post (Aug. 11, 2002).
- Jamin Raskin, The Debate Gerrymander and the Two-Party Arrangement, in Democracy's Moment (Ron Hayduk, ed., Rowman & Littlefield Apr. 2002).
- Jamin Raskin, The Paradox of Judicial Bypass Proceedings, 10 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Policy & L. 2 (Spring 2002).
- Jamin Raskin, Bringing the High Court to the High School, Educational Leadership (Dec. 2001/Jan. 2002).
- Jamin Raskin, A Right to Vote, Am. Prospect (Aug. 27, 2001).
- Jamin Raskin, 1 Person, 1 Vote--Not in America, Wash. Post (Aug. 26, 2001).
- Jamin Raskin, A Tale of Two Voting Rights Lawsuits, TomPaine.com (Apr. 10, 2001).
- Jamin Raskin, Reason, Justice and Love: The Constitutional Humanism of Peter Cicchino, 9 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Policy & L. 1 (Spring 2001).
- Jamin Raskin, Bush v. Gore Revisited, Cardozo Stud. L. & Literature (Spring 2001).
- Jamin Raskin, Polling Establishment: Democratic Theory and the Establishment Clause Endorsement Test, 60 Md. L. Rev. 761 (2001).
- Jamin Raskin & Clark LeBlanc, Disfavored Speech About Favored Rights: Hill v. Colorado, The Vanishing Public Forum and the Need for an Objective Speech Discrimination Test, 51 Am. U. L. Rev. 179 (2001).
- Jamin Raskin, Race, Poverty, and the Wealth Primary, in Challenges to Equality, Chester Hartman (M.E. Sharpe 2001).
- Jamin Raskin, Nader's Traders: How to Save Al Gore's Bacon By Pairing Votes in a Progressive Internet Political Coalition, Slate Mag. (Oct. 24, 2000).
- Jamin Raskin, Jonathan Soros, The Great Debate: Closed By Big-Party Politics, N.Y. Post (Oct. 3, 2000).
- Jamin Raskin, Let's Take Back the Debates, The Nation (Feb. 7, 2000).
- Jamin Raskin, A Complicated and Indirect Encroachment: Is the Federal Election Commission Unconstitutionally Composed?, 52 Admin. L. Rev. 609 (2000).
- Jamin Raskin, Is This America? The District of Columbia and the Right to Vote, Har. Civ. Rights-Civ. Libs. L. Rev. (Winter 1999).
- Jamin Raskin, Flag Fetish: Amendment Would Establish Old Glory As a State Religion, Leg. Times (May 17, 1999).
- Jamin Raskin, District Deserves Full Rights, Leg. Times (Apr. 19, 1999).
- Jamin Raskin, Democracy and Disenfranchisement in Washington, D.C., 6 Issue 2 Hum. Rights Br. (Spring 1999).
- Jamin Raskin, The Debate Gerrymander, 77 Tex. L. Rev. 1943 (1999).
- Jamin Raskin, Jon Desenberg, A Basic Disrespect for Democracy, Wash. Post (Dec, 6, 1998).
- Jamin Raskin, Rob Richie, These Reforms Will Get Voters to the Polls, Wash. Post (Sept. 13, 1998).
- Jamin Raskin, The Supreme Court's Racial Double Standard in Redistricting: Unequal Protection in Politics and the Scholarship That Defends It, U. Va. J.L. & Pol. (Fall 1998).
- Jamin Raskin, Designed to Dance to the Two Parties' Tune, Leg. Times (Mar. 16, 1998).
- Jamin Raskin, Let Third Parties Have Their Day on TV, Wash. Times (Oct. 8, 1997).
- Jamin Raskin, Reform Without Representation: Congress' D.C. Takeover Won't Work Without Real Voting Rights, Wash. Post (Aug. 3, 1997).
- Jamin Raskin, Dollar Democracy, The Nation (May 5, 1997).
- Jamin Raskin, House of the Lord, The Nation (Apr. 14, 1997).
- Jamin Raskin, Race, Poverty and the, 6 No. 2 Poverty & Race (Mar./Apr. 1997).
- Jamin Raskin, Content, Character, And Class, Am. Law. (Dec. 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Courtwatch, George Mag. (Nov. 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Silencing the Other Political Parties, Wash. Post (Oct. 30, 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Hear Ye, Hear Ye, The Legal Precedents for Enforcing Constitutional Rights in the District, Wash. Post (Sept. 22, 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Supreme Court Veers Right On Race, Newsday (July 11, 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Separate But Color-Blind, In These Times (June 24, 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Affirmative Action and Racial Reaction, 38 How. L.J. 521 (Summer 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, A Change of Venue for Voters, Wash. Post (Apr. 14, 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Breaking Buckley?, 3, No. 2 Capital Eye (Mar. 1, 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, From "Colorbling" White Supremacy to American Multiculturalism, 19 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Policy 743 (Spring 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, Race, Law, and Justice: The Rehnquist Court and the American Dilemma, 45 Am. U. L. Rev. 567 (Feb. 1996).
- Jamin Raskin, The Death Penalty in the Twenty-First Century, Colloquium, 45 Am. U. L. Rev. 239 (Dec. 1995).
- Jamin Raskin, Trademarking Old Glory, The Nation (Sept. 18, 1995).
- Jamin Raskin, Politics: No Savign Grace, Tikkun (Sept./Oct. 1995).
- Jamin Raskin, Getting Tough on Flag Season: If You Think Flag-Burning is the Only Descration, You're Just Whistling Dixie, Leg. Times (July 24, 1995).
- Jamin Raskin, Gerrymander Hypocrisy: Supreme Court's Double Standard, The Nation (Feb. 6, 1995).
- Jamin Raskin, Imprisoning 'the Last, the Least and the Lost', Leg. Times (Nov. 28, 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, The Wealth Primary, The Nation (Nov. 21, 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, The Supreme Court, Racial Politics, and the Right to Vote: Shaw v. Reno and the Future of the Voting Rights Act, 44 Am. U. L. Rev. 1 (Oct. 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, Turning Voting Rights Act on Its Head, L.A. Times (Sept. 6, 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, Wealth Robs the Unwealth of Voting Clout, L.A. Times (July 26, 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, The Constitutional Imperative and Practical Superiority of Democratically-Financed Elections, Colum. L. Rev. (June 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, Colloquim, Campaign Finance Reform: Law and Politics, 8 Am. U. Admin. L. J. 2 (Summer 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, Colloquium, the Fifth Annual Robert C. Byrd Conference on the Administrative Process: The First Year of Clinton-Gore: Reinventing Government or Refining Reagan/Bush Initiatives?, Am. U. Admin. L. J. (Spring 1994).
- Jamin Raskin, The Great PC Cover-Up, Cal. Law. (Feb. 1994).
- Jamin Raskin & John Bonifaz, Equal Protection and the Wealth Primary, Yale L. & Policy Rev. (Dec. 1993).
- Jamin Raskin, Time To Give Aliens the Vote (Again), The Nation (Apr. 5, 1993).
- Jamin Raskin, Legal Aliens, Local Citizens: The Historical, Constitutional and Theoretical Meanings of Alien Suffrage, U. Pa. L. Rev. (Apr. 1993).
- Jamin Raskin, Roe v. Wade and Dred Scott: Justice Scalia's Peculiar Analogy in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Am. U. J. Gender & L. (1993).
- Jamin Raskin, A Constructional Path to a New Columbia, Wash. Post (Dec. 16, 1992).
- Jamin Raskin, The Next Best Thing to Statehood, Wash. Post (Oct. 18, 1992).
- Jamin Raskin, A Murder, A Mockery and A Political-Correctness Cover-Up, In These Times (July 7, 1992).
- Jamin Raskin, House Call?, The Nation (June 1, 1992).
- Jamin Raskin, Votes for All, Citizens or Not, L.A. Times (Nov. 13, 1991).
- Jamin Raskin, Their Chance To Vote, Wash. Post (Oct. 13, 1991).
- Jamin Raskin, Rainbow Signs, The Nation (July 1, 1991).
- Jamin Raskin, Now That We've Freed Kuwait, Liberate the District, The Nation (Mar. 25, 1991).
- Jamin Raskin, A Precedent for Arab-Americans? Remember Korematsu, The Nation (Feb. 4, 1991).
- Jamin Raskin, Reviving the Democratic Vision of Labor Law, 42 Hastings L.J. 1067 (1991).
- Jamin Raskin, Domination, Democracy and the District, 39 Cath. U. L. Rev. 417 (1990).
- Jamin Raskin, Fear of Falling, Z Mag. (Jan. 1990).
- Jamin Raskin, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Statehood of New Columbia, Z Mag. (Sept. 1989).
- Jamin Raskin, Johnny Reb Waves a Tale of Slavery: If Flags Mean So Much, Stifle Displays of Confederate Banners, L.A. Times (July 12, 1989).
- Jamin Raskin, The Hazards of David Duke: The Mighty Right in the New New South, Z Mag. (Apr. 1989).
- Jamin Raskin, Laws of the Jungle, L.A. Wkly. (Feb. 3, 1989).
- Jamin Raskin, Archie Bunker Fights Back: Morton Downey and Mean TV, Z Mag. (Feb. 1989).
- Jamin Raskin, Laying Down The Law, in How Harvard Rules (South End Press 1989).
- Jamin Raskin, Are You Free Tonight? American Freedom Mid-Decade, L.A. Wkly. (Dec. 20, 1985).
- Jamin Raskin, The Law Wars, L.A. Wkly. (Dec. 13, 1985).
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Selected Presentations
- Jamin Raskin, Moderator, Ideas for Reform – Innovative Prosecutorial Programs and Remedies for Abuse (American Prosecutor: Power Discretion and Accountability, American Constitution Society, Wash., D.C., Oct. 26, 2007).
- Jamin Raskin, Speech, Opening and Closing Remarks (American Prosecutor: Power Discretion and Accountability, American Constitution Society, Wash., D.C., Oct. 26, 2007).
- Jamin Raskin, Testimony, Proposed Gay Rights Ban (Maryland House Judiciary Committee, Jan. 31, 2006).
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Selected Media Appearances
- Washington Journal, "National Popular Vote & Other Topics" (C-SPAN Jan. 15, 2008) (Television Interview).
- Spotsylvania County Prostitution Bust (WTTG-FOX 5 Feb. 14, 2006).
- Samuel Alito Nomination (WRC-NBC 4 Oct. 31, 2005).
- Debate on Democracy as a Constitutional Value, Part 1 (C-SPAN 2 Apr. 21, 2003) (Television Interview).
- Debate on Democracy as a Constitutional Value, Part 2 (C-SPAN 2 Apr. 21, 2003) (Television Interview).
- Debate on Democracy as a Constitutional Value, Part 3 (C-SPAN 2 Apr. 21, 2003) (Television Interview).
- Debate on Democracy as a Constitutional Value, Part 4 (C-SPAN 2 Apr. 21, 2003) (Television Interview).
