ND Law’s Religious Liberty Initiative selects seven junior scholars to present at Notre Dame Law & Religion Junior Faculty Conference in Chicago
Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative has selected seven junior scholars who will present at the upcoming Law & Religion Junior Faculty Conference on October 27-28 at Notre Dame Law School’s Chicago campus.
The conference aims to advance scholarship that contributes to a deeper understanding of the intersection between law and religion. The seven winning scholars will receive a $1,500 honorarium, and their travel costs to the conference will be covered. In addition, each junior scholar will receive dedicated commentary on their paper from a distinguished scholar in the field of law and religion.
There were over 40 submissions of proposed papers this year, and a jury of distinguished scholars provided feedback on which papers’ proposals to select. The junior scholar winners, and the corresponding distinguished commentator for that paper, include the following:
Angela Howard (with commentary by Andrew Koppelman)
Brady Earley (with commentary by Netta Barak-Corren)
Branton Nestor (with commentary by Robin Wilson)
Francesca Matozzo (with commentary by Marc DeGirolami)
Gabby Girgis (with commentary by Michael McConnell)
Jorge Barrera Rojas (with commentary by Javier García Oliva)
Mark Storslee (with commentary by Doug Laycock)
Some other topics that the winning junior scholars address in their papers include the church autonomy doctrine, the Supreme Court’s future exemptions regime, the implications of the case Employment Division v. Smith, misconceptions about religious exceptions, and pressing legal questions involving religious exemptions and sexual orientation nondiscrimination in public accommodations.
Submissions were limited to unpublished papers by junior faculty, or tenure-track law faculty who have been teaching for no more than 10 years. Aspiring scholars who have not yet obtained their first tenure-track appointments, including teaching or other fellows and visiting assistant professors, were also welcome to submit papers for consideration. The high volume of impressive submissions that the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative received resulted in a highly competitive selection process. Congratulations to the winning scholars!
About the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative
Established in 2020, the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative promotes and defends religious freedom for all people through advocacy, formation, and thought leadership. The initiative protects the freedom of individuals to hold religious beliefs as well as their right to exercise and express those beliefs and to live according to them.
The Religious Liberty Initiative has represented individuals and organizations from an array of faith traditions to defend the right to religious worship, to preserve sacred lands from destruction, to promote the freedom to select religious ministers, and to prevent discrimination against religious schools and families.
Learn more about the Religious Liberty Initiative at religiousliberty.nd.edu.
Originally published by at religiousliberty.nd.edu on July 31, 2023.