David Stras

450 Mondale Hall
229–19th Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

612-624-2947

dstras@umn.edu

University of Kansas, B.A., M.B.A., J.D.

Professor David Stras joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School in 2004. He teaches and writes in the areas of federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, law and politics, and law and economics. His current research focuses on the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court of the United States. Using a variety of methodological tools, including empirical and historical analyses, Professor Stras' research has examined a variety of issues relating to the Supreme Court.

Professor Stras is a frequent television and radio commentator on issues relating to the federal judiciary, particularly with respect to the Supreme Court of the United States. He is also a faculty member of the University of Minnesota Political Science Department, and is the co-editor of an SSRN journal on law and politics. Professor Stras also recently became a co-director of the Institute for Law and Politics at the University of Minnesota. During the Fall 2008 semester, Professor Stras was a visiting professor of law at Washington University.

Professor Stras is the faculty advisor to the Minnesota Law Review, and a frequent and regular contributor to SCOTUSblog and Empirical Legal Studies blog. He also actively advises students in the clerkship application process. Professor Stras was honored to be named Stanley V. Kinyon Tenure-Track Teacher of the Year for the 2006-2007 academic year.

Professor Stras received his B.A. degree, with highest distinction, and his M.B.A. from the University of Kansas. He received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review. Following law school, Professor Stras clerked for The Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then for The Honorable J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. From 2001 to 2002, he practiced white-collar criminal and appellate litigation with the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Following his year in practice, he clerked for The Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.

See Professor Stras's curriculum vitae.

PUBLICATIONS Selected Works in Progress The Business of the Supreme Court: Reflections a Century Later (in progress) (with Timothy R. Johnson) (a book-length project). Why Does the Supreme Court Issue Plurality Opinions? (with Jim Spriggs) (in progress). Deference, Retroactivity, and the Great Writ (in progress). Marksism (in progress). Opening the Doors of the Supreme Court: A Solution to the Declining Plenary Docket (in progress). Books Federal Courts: Cases and Materials on Judicial Federalism and the Lawyering Process (Lexis-Nexis 2d ed. 2009) (with Arthur Hellman and Lauren Robel). Judicial Code Supplement (Lexis-Nexis 2009) (with Arthur Hellman and Lauren Robel). Articles and Book Chapters Pierce Butler: A Supreme Technician, 61 Vand. L. Rev. 695 (2009). SSRN Navigating the New Politics of Judicial Appointments, 102 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1869 (2008) (with Ryan W. Scott). SSRN Understanding the New Politics of Judicial Appointments, 86 Texas L. Rev. 1033 (2008). SSRN The Supreme Court's Gatekeepers: The Role of Law Clerks in the Certiorari Process, 85 Texas L. Rev. 947 (2007) (review essay) (reprinted in part in Susan Low Bloch et al., Supreme Court Politics: The Institution and its Procedures (2d ed. 2008)). SSRN Why Supreme Court Justices Should Ride Circuit Again, 91 Minn. L. Rev. 1710 (2007). SSRN An Empirical Analysis of Life Tenure: A Response to Professors Calabresi & Lindgren, 30 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 791 (2007) (with Ryan W. Scott). SSRN Are Senior Judges Unconstitutional?, 92 Cornell L. Rev. 453 (2007) (with Ryan W. Scott) (response by Judge Betty Binns Fletcher). SSRN "Foreword," Symposium on the Future of the Supreme Court: Institutional Reform and Beyond, 90 Minn. L. Rev. 1147 (2006) (with Karla Vehrs). SSRN The Incentives Approach to Judicial Retirement, 90 Minn. L. Rev. 1417 (2006) (invited symposium contribution). SSRN Retaining Life Tenure: The Case for a "Golden Parachute," 83 Wash. U.L.Q. 1397 (2006) (lead article) (with Ryan W. Scott). SSRN Justice Clarence Thomas, in Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Roger K. Newman ed., 2009) (with Jim Chen).

COURSES Courses Federal Jurisdiction and Courts Constitutional Law Criminal Law Seminars Supreme Court: Current Term Cases