Levin College of Law

Gary S. Lawson

Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law

About

Professor Gary Lawson joined the University of Florida Levin College of Law faculty on July 1, 2024, after twenty-four years at Boston University School of Law and eleven years at Northwestern University School of Law. While at Boston University, he was named a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor in 2022 – the highest faculty honor within the university. He has authored or co-authored nine editions of a textbook on administrative law, a textbook on constitutional law, five university press books, one popular press book, and more than one hundred scholarly articles on topics ranging from aspects of constitutional theory and history to the proof of legal propositions. His works have been cited in more than twenty opinions of United States Supreme Court justices. He is a founding member, and serves on the Board of Directors, of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution.

Education

J.D., Yale Law School
B.A., Claremont Men’s College

Expertise

Administrative Law

Publications

University Press Books 

  • Deference: The Legal Concept and the Legal Practice (Oxford University Press, 2019) (with Guy I. Seidman)
  • “A Great Power of Attorney”: Understanding the Fiduciary Constitution (University Press of Kansas, 2017) (with Guy I. Seidman)
  • Evidence of the Law: Proving Legal Claims (University of Chicago Press, 2017)
  • The Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause (Cambridge University Press, 2010) (with Geoffrey P. Miller, Robert G. Natelson & Guy I. Seidman)
  • The Constitution of Empire: Territorial Expansion and American Legal History (Yale University Press, 2004) (with Guy I. Seidman)

Popular Press Books

  • The Meese Revolution: The Making of a Constitutional Moment (Encounter Books, 2024) (with Steven G. Calabresi)(forthcoming November 2024)

Textbooks

  • The United States Constitution: Creation, Reconstruction, the Progressives, and the Modern Era (2d ed.) (Foundation Press, 2025) (and accompanying Teachers Manual) (forthcoming)
  • The United States Constitution: Creation, Reconstruction, the Progressives, and the Modern Era (Foundation Press, 2020) (with Steven G. Calabresi) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (10th ed.) (West 2025) (and accompanying Teachers Manual) (forthcoming)
  • Federal Administrative Law (9th ed.) (West 2022) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (8th ed.) (West, 2019) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (7th ed.) (West, 2016) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (6th ed.) (West, 2013) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  •  Federal Administrative Law (5th ed.) (West, 2009) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (4th ed.) (Thomson/West, 2007) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (3d ed.) (Thomson/West, 2004) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (2d ed.) (WestGroup, 2001) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)
  • Federal Administrative Law (West Publishing Co., 1998) (and accompanying Teachers Manual)

Articles and Book Chapters

  • Pnina vs. Golda?, _ Haifa L. Rev. _ (forthcoming 2025)
  • Still Crazy After All These Years, — Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y – (2025) (forthcoming)
  • “The Game” (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Major Questions Doctrine), 2024 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y Per Curiam 14
  • The Ghosts of Chevron Present and Future, 103 B.U. L. Rev. 1647 (2023)
  • Congressional Meddling in Presidential Elections: Still Unconstitutional After All These Years, 103 B.U. L. Rev. 1189 (2023) (with Jack Beermann)
  • Against the Chenery II “Doctrine”, 99 Notre Dame L. Rev. 45 (2023) (with Joseph Postell)
  • Operationalizing the Unitary Executive, 92 Fordham L. Rev. 441 (2023)
  • What McCulloch v. Maryland Got Wrong: The Original Meaning of “Necessary” Is Not “Useful,” “Convenient,” or “Rational”, 75 Baylor L. Rev. 1 (2023) (with Steven G. Calabresi & Elise Kostial)
  • Equivocal Originalism, 27 Tex. Rev L. & Politics 309 (2022)
  • Are People in Federal Territories Part of “We the People of the United States”?, 9 Tex. A & M L. Rev. 655 (2022) (with Guy Seidman)
  • The Electoral Count Act of 1877 Is Unconstitutional, and Other Fun Facts (Plus a Few Random Academic Speculations) about Counting Electoral Votes, 15 Fla. Int’l U. L. Rev. 297 (2022) (with Jack Beermann)
  • A Private-Law Framework for Subdelegation, in The Administrative State before the Supreme Court: Perspectives on the Nondelegation Doctrine (Peter J. Wallison & John Yoo, eds., 2022)
  • The Epistemology of Second Best, 100 Tex. L. Rev. 749 (2022)
  • What Is “United” about the United States?, 101 B.U. L. Rev. 1793 (2021)
  • (Hypothetical) Communication in (Hypothetical) Context, 23 J. Contemp. Legal Issues 139 (2021)
  • Deep Tracks: Album Cuts that Help Define The Essential Scalia, 15 N.Y.U. J. L. & Liberty 169 (2021)
  • The Fiduciary Social Contract, 38 Soc. Phil. & Pol’y 25 (2021)
  • “I’m Leavin’ It (All) Up to You”: Gundy v. United States and the (Almost) Resurrection of the Subdelegation Doctrine, 2019 Cato Sup. Ct. Rev. 31
  • Gundy v. United States, in SCOTUS 2019: Major Decisions and Developments of the US Supreme Court (David Klein & Morgan Marietta eds., 2019)
  • Why Robert Mueller’s Appointment as Special Counsel Was Unlawful, 95 Notre Dame L. Rev. 87 (2019) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • An Enquiry Concerning Constitutional Understanding, 17 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 491 (2019) (with Guy Seidman)
  • The Depravity of the 1930s and the Administrative State, 94 Notre Dame L. Rev. 821 (2018) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • Appointments and Illegal Adjudication: The AIA through a Constitutional Lens, 26 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 26 (2018)
  • Deference and National Courts in the Age of Globalization: Learning, Applying, and Deferring to Foreign Law, in 2 Ius Dicere in a Globalized World 431 (Chiara Antonia d’Allesandro & Claudio Marchese, eds. 2018) (with Guy Seidman)
  •  Representative/Senator Trump?, 21 Chapman L. Rev. 111 (2018)
  •  By Any Other Name: Rational Basis Inquiry and the Federal Government’s Fiduciary Duty of Care, 69 Fla. L. Rev. 1385 (2018) (with Guy Seidman)
  •  Take the Fifth . . . Please!  The Original Insignificance of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process of Law Clause, 2017 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 611
  •  Confronting Crawford: Justice Scalia, the Judicial Method, and the Adjudicative Limits of Originalism, 84 U. Chi. L. Rev. 2265 (2017)
  •  Did Justice Scalia Have a Theory of Interpretation?, 92 Notre Dame L. Rev. 2143 (2017)
  •  Original Foreign Affairs Federalism, 97 B.U. L. Rev. 301 (2017)
  •  Reflections of an Empirical Reader (Or, Could Fleming Be Right This Time?), 96 B.U. L. Rev. 1457 (2016)
  • Time, Institutions, and Adjudication, 95 B.U. L. Rev. 1793 (2016)
  • Inigo Montoya Goes to War, 95 B.U. L. Rev. 1355 (2015)
  • Understanding State Constitutions: Locke and Key, 93 Tex. L. Rev. See Also 203 (2015)
  • The Return of the King: The Unsavory Origins of Administrative Law, 93 Tex. L. Rev. 1521 (2015)
  • The Rule of Law as a Law of Law, 90 Notre Dame L. Rev. 483 (2015) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • Classical Liberal Constitution or Classical Liberal Construction?, 8 N.Y.U. J. L. & Liberty 808 (2014)
  • One(?) Nation Over-Extended, 94 B.U. L. Rev. 1109 (2014)
  • The Fiduciary Foundations of Federal Equal Protection, 94 B.U. L. Rev. 415 (2014) (with Robert G. Natelson & Guy Seidman)
  • Originalism without Obligation, 93 B.U. L. Rev. 1309 (2013)
  • Making Law Out of Nothing at All: The Origins of the Chevron Doctrine, 65 Admin. L. Rev. 1 (2013) (with Stephen Kam)
  • Night of the Living Dead Hand: The Individual Mandate and the Zombie Constitution, 81 Fordham L. Rev. 1699 (2013)
  • No History, No Certainty, No Legitimacy . . . No Problem: Originalism and the Limits of Legal Theory, 64 Fla. L. Rev. 1551 (2012)
  • Dead Document Walking, 92 B.U. L. Rev. 1225 (2012)
  • The PPACA in Wonderland, 38 Am. J. L & Med. 269 (2012) (with David B. Kopel)
  • Bad News for John Marshall, 121 Yale L.J. Online 529 (2012) (with David B. Kopel)
  • Bad News for Professor Koppelman: The Incidental Unconstitutionality of the Individual Mandate, 121 Yale L.J. Online 267 (2011) (with David B. Kopel)
  • Rebel without a Clause: The Irrelevance of Article VI to Constitutional Supremacy, 110 Mich. L. Rev. First Impressions 33 (2011)
  • Optimal Specificity in the Law of Separation of Powers: The Numerous Clauses Principle, 124 Harv. L. Rev. Online Forum 42 (2011)
  • Truth, Justice, and the Libertarian Way(s), 91 B.U. L. Rev. 1347 (2011)
  • The American Experience with Territorial Governance, in EU Law of the Overseas: Outermost Regions, Associated Overseas Countries and Territories, Territories Sui Generis 417 (Dimitry Kochenov ed., 2011) (with Guy Seidman)
  • Stipulating the Law, 109 Mich. L. Rev. 1191 (2011)
  • Burying the Constitution under a TARP, 33 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 55 (2010)
  • It Depends, 62 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 139 (2009)
  • The “Principal” Reason Why the PCAOB Is Unconstitutional, 62 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 73 (2009)
  • The Constitutionality of Decolonization by Associated Statehood: Puerto Rico’s Legal Status Reconsidered, 50 B.C. L. Rev. 1123 (2009) (with Robert D. Sloane)
  • The Constitution’s Congress, 89 B.U.  L. Rev. 399 (2009)
  • Dirty Dancing — The FDA Stumbles with the Chevron Two-Step, 93 Cornell L. Rev. 927 (2008)
  • What Lurks Beneath: NSA Surveillance and Executive Power, 88 B.U. L. Rev. 375 (2008)
  • A Truism with Attitude: The Tenth Amendment in Constitutional Context, 83 Notre Dame L. Rev. 469 (2008)
  • The Unitary Executive, Jurisdiction Stripping, and the Hamdan Opinions: A Textualist Response to Justice Scalia, 107 Colum. L. Rev. 1002 (2007) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • Reprocessing Vermont Yankee, 75 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 856 (2007) (with Jack M. Beermann)
  • Mostly Unconstitutional: The Case Against Precedent Revisited, 5 Ave Maria L. Rev. 1 (2007)
  • Ordinary Powers in Extraordinary Times: Common Sense in Times of Crisis, 87 B.U.  L. Rev. 289 (2007)
  • Originalism as a Legal Enterprise, 23 Const. Commentary 47 (2006) (with Guy Seidman)
  • The Jeffersonian Treaty Clause, 2006 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1 (with Guy Seidman)
  • “Oh Lord, Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood!”: Rediscovering the Penn Central and Mathews v. Eldridge Frameworks, 81 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1 (2005) (with Katharine A. Ferguson & Guillermo Montero)
  • The Original “Incorporation” Debate, in The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion, 1803-1898 (Sanford Levinson & Bartholomew H. Sparrow eds., 2005) (with Guy Seidman)
  • Prolegomenon to Any Future Administrative Law Course: Separation of Powers and the Transcendental Deduction, 49 St. Louis U. L. Rev. 885 (2005)
  • Burning Down the House (and Senate): A Presentment Requirement for Legislative Subpoenas under the Orders, Resolutions, and Votes Clause, 83 Tex. L. Rev. 1373 (2005)
  • Discretion as Delegation: The “Proper” Understanding of the Nondelegation Doctrine, 73 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 235 (2005)
  • Making a Federal Case Out of It: Sabri v. United States and the Constitution of Leviathan, 2003-2004 Cato Sup. Ct. Rev. 119
  • Making Workshops Work, 54 J. Leg. Education 302 (2004)
  • Who’s the Boss? Controlling Auditor Incentives through Random Selection, 53 Emory L.J. 391 (2004) (with David B. Kahn)
  • Interpretative Equality as a Structural Imperative (or “Pucker Up and Settle This!”), 20 Const. Commentary 379 (2003)
  • The First “Establishment” Clause: Article VII and the Post-Constitutional Confederation, 78 Notre Dame L. Rev. 83 (2002) (with Guy Seidman)
  • Conservative or Constitutionalist?, 1 Geo. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 81 (2002)
  • Delegation and Original Meaning, 88 Va. L. Rev. 327 (2002)
  • When Did the Constitution Become Law?, 77 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1 (2001) (with Guy Seidman)
  • Controlling Precedent: Congressional Regulation of Judicial Decision-Making, 18 Const. Commentary 191 (2001)
  • The Hobbesian Constitution: Governing without Authority, 95 Nw. U. L. Rev. 581 (2001) (with Guy Seidman)
  • Everything I Need to Know About Presidents I Learned from Dr. Seuss, 24 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 381 (2001)
  • Taking Notes: Subpoenas and Just Compensation, 66 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1081 (1999) (with Guy Seidman)
  • Downsizing the Right to Petition, 93 Nw. U. L. Rev. 739 (1999) (with Guy Seidman)
  • The Bill of Rights as an Exclamation Point, 33 U. Richmond L. Rev. 511 (1999)
  • Reconceptualizing Chevron and Discretion: A Comment on Levin and Rubin, 72 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 1377 (1997)
  • A Farewell to Principles, 82 Iowa L. Rev. 893 (1997)
  • On Reading Recipes . . . and Constitutions, 85 Geo. L. Rev. 1823 (1997)
  • The Executive Power of Constitutional Interpretation, 81 Iowa L. Rev. 1267 (1996) (with Christopher D. Moore)
  • Outcome, Procedure, and Process: Agency Duties of Explanation for Legal Conclusions, 48 Rutgers L. Rev. 313 (1996)
  • Legal Indeterminacy: Its Cause and Cure, 19 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 411 (1996)
  • Who Legislates?, 1995 Pub. Int. L. Rev. 147 (reviewing David Schoenbrod, Power Without Responsibility (1993))
  • Linguistics and Legal Epistemology: Why the Law Pays Less Attention to Linguists than It Should, 73 Wash. U. L.Q. 995 (1995)
  • Feminist Legal Theories, 18 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 325 (1994)
  • Proving Ownership, 11 Social Phil. & Pol’y 139 (1994)
  • The Rise and Rise of the Administrative State, 107 Harv. L. Rev. 1231 (1994)
  • The Constitutional Case Against Precedent, 17 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 23 (1994)
  • The “Proper” Scope of Federal Power: A Jurisdictional Interpretation of the Sweeping Clause, 43 Duke L.J. 267 (1993) (with Patricia B. Granger)
  • Thayer Versus Marshall, 88 Nw. U. L. Rev. 221 (1993)
  • Foreword: Two Visions of the Nature of Man, 16 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 1 (1993) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • Panel: Congress, the Courts, and the Bill of Rights, 23 Cumberland L. Rev. 103 (1992‑93)
  • Efficiency and Individualism, 42 Duke L.J. 53 (1992)
  • Equity and Hierarchy: Reflections on the Harris Execution, 102 Yale L.J. 255 (1992) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • Proving the Law, 86 Nw. U. L. Rev. 859 (1992)
  • Foreword: The Constitution of Responsibility, 77 Cornell L. Rev. 955 (1992) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • An Interpretivist Agenda, 15 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 157 (1992)
  • A Tale of Two Professions: The Third‑Party Liability of Accountants and Attorneys for Negligent Misrepresentation, 52 Ohio St. L.J. 1309 (1991) (with Tamara Mattison)
  • Introduction: Prospects for the Rule of Law, 21 Cumberland L. Rev. 427 (1990‑91) (with Steven G. Calabresi)
  • Territorial Governments and the Limits of Formalism, 78 Cal. L. Rev. 853 (1990)
  • AIDS, Astrology, and Arline: Towards a Causal Interpretation of Section 504, 17 Hofstra L. Rev. 237 (1989)
  • In Praise of Woodenness, 11 Geo. Mason U. L. Rev. 21 (1988)
  • The Ethics of Insider Trading, 11 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 727 (1988)

Other Publications 

  • Comment on Brewer: Form and Content in Legal Proof (or Why Everybody Wins – or at Least Gets a Participation Trophy), 97 B.U. L. Rev. 2321 (2017)
  • On Getting It Right: Remembering Justice Antonin Scalia, 96 B.U. L. Rev. 299 (2016)
  • Legislative Vesting Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 55 (Rev. 2d. ed.) (David F. Forte & Matthew Spalding eds. 2014)
  • Necessary and Proper Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 189 (Rev. 2d. ed.) (David F. Forte & Matthew Spalding eds. 2014) (with David E. Engdahl)
  • A Note on Non-Article III Courts, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 312 (Rev. 2d. ed.) (David F. Forte & Matthew Spalding eds. 2014) (with Loren Smith)
  • Territories Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 360 (Rev. 2d. ed.) (David F. Forte & Matthew Spalding eds. 2014)
  • Supremacy Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 381 (Rev. 2d. ed.) (David F. Forte & Matthew Spalding eds. 2014)
  • Due Process Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 439 (Rev. 2d. ed.) (David F. Forte & Matthew Spalding eds. 2014)
  • Deference to Whom?, Online Library of Law and Liberty, Aug. 1, 2013 (available at http://www.libertylawsite.org/liberty-forum/deference-to-whom)
  • Reviving Formal Rulemaking: Openness and Accountability for Obamacare, Backgrounder No. 2585, July 25, 2011 (available at http://report.heritage.org/bg2585)
  • Limited Government, Unlimited Administration: Is It Possible to Restore Constitutionalism?, Heritage First Principles Series No. 23 (2009)
  • Due Process Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 337 (Edwin Meese III, Matthew Spalding & David Forte ed. 2005)
  • Supremacy Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 291 (Edwin Meese III, Matthew Spalding & David Forte ed. 2005)
  • A Note on Non-Article III Courts, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution 239 (Edwin Meese III, Matthew Spalding & David Forte eds. 2005) (with Loren Smith)
  • An Empirical Test of Justice Scalia’s Commitment to the Rule of Law, 26 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 803 (2003)
  • Casey at the Court, 17 Const. Commentary 161 (2000)
  • Delegation and the Constitution, 22 Regulation 23 (1999)
  • Book Review, The Federalist Paper, July 1994 (reviewing Michael J. Perry, The Constitution in the Courts: Law or Politics? (1994))
  • Everyday People, A.B.A. J., December 1992, at 113 (reviewing Joseph Goldstein, The Intelligible Constitution (1992))
  • An Abuse of Authority, A.B.A. J., November 1991, at 44
  • Caveat Auditor: The Rise of Accountants’ Liability, Claims, Apr. 1990, at 34 (with Walter K. Olson)
  • Antitrust: Fear of Fairness, Regulation, Nov./Dec. 1985, at 5
  • Insider Trading As Victimless Crime, Regul., May/June 1985, at 8
  • A Truce in the Takeover Wars?, Regul., Mar./Apr. 1985, at 4