Stephen Smith

Professor of Law

Office: 3162 Eck Hall of Law
Telephone: 574.631.3097
Email: ssmith31@nd.edu
Staff Assistant: Gerri Lehmkuhl

Stephen Smith came to Notre Dame Law School in 2009 from the University of Virginia where he was the John V. Ray Research Professor. He taught criminal law and an appellate advocacy seminar in the fall 2008 semester at Notre Dame Law School as a Visiting Professor.

Smith earned his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. As a student at the law school, he served as articles editor for the Virginia Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif and the Raven Society. Upon graduation, he clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Before returning to the law school, Smith served in the Supreme Court and appellate practice group of Sidley & Austin in Washington, D.C. He also served as associate majority counsel to a 1996 House of Representatives select subcommittee investigating U.S. involvement in Iranian arms transfers to Bosnia and as an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law. He is actively involved in a number of community service organizations and civic projects.

Smith’s area of research is criminal law and criminal procedure. He teaches courses on criminal law, criminal adjudication, and federal criminal law.

In the News

• Featured Faculty on NDLS Home Page: Stephen Smith – September 8, 2009

Representative Selection of Publications to Date and Works in Progress

Articles

Proportional Mens Rea (forthcoming Am. Crim. L. Rev. (2009))

The Supreme Court and the Politics of Death, 94 Va. L. Rev. 283 (2008).

“Innocence” and the Guilty Mind (in progress)

Proportionality and Federalization, 91 Va. L. Rev. 879 (2005).

Activism as Restraint: Lessons from Criminal Procedure, 80 Tex. L. Rev. 1057 (2002).

Essays/Book Reviews

Jail for Juvenile Child Pornographers? A Reply to Professor Leary, 15 Va. J. Soc. Pol’y & Law -- (2008) (Issue 3)

Cultural Change and “Catholic Lawyers,” 1 Ave Maria L. Rev. 31 (2003). (solicited piece for inaugural issue)

“We the Protestants,” First Things: The Journal of Religion in Public Life, Dec. 2002 issue, at 43 (reviewing SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE by Philip Hamburger).

The Rehnquist Court and Criminal Procedure, 73 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1337 (2002) (symposium).

Taking Lessons from the Left? Judicial Activism on the Right, 1 Geo. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 57 (2002) (solicited piece for inaugural issue)