Gary S. Lawson

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