Founding Faculty in the Spotlight: Richard Myers

Richard S. Myers, Professor of Law
Professor Myers began his legal career clerking for Judge John F. Kilkenny of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He then worked for Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Washington, D.C., focusing on antitrust law and appellate litigation. He began his teaching career at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and then taught at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Professor Myers teaches courses in Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, and Antitrust. Professor Myers is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College and earned his law degree at Notre Dame, where he graduated first in his class.


Professor Myers testified earlier this year before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the constitutionality of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. His full testimony can be read here and an excerpt is provided below:

It is quite clear that the real objection is not to a proper understanding of the constitutional principles underlying our system of federalism but, rather, to the substantive policy implicated. So, critics of the standard view that states are permitted to refuse to recognize marriages that violate the strong public policy of the couples’ home state are, it seems safe to say, primarily driven by their opposition to the substantive policies of the states with a traditional view of marriage, even if that traditional view enjoys widespread public support, perhaps evidenced by the policy having been adopted by wide majorities of the voting populations in these states. In the context presented here today, the same dynamic seems at work. The real opposition to the Act is not to its understanding of federalism but to the substantive policy (promoting parental involvement in the decision by a minor whether to have an abortion) that the legislation seems designed to permit states to pursue.

Professor Myers is the President of University Faculty For Life and Executive Secretary of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists.