Kermit Roosevelt
Professor of Law

Kermit Roosevelt works in a diverse range of fields, focusing on constitutional law and conflict of laws. He has published scholarly books in both fields.
Expertise
- Constitutional Law
- Conflict of Laws
- Federal Jurisdiction
Books
ALLEGIANCE: A NOVEL (Regan Arts 2015).
[Available Here]
CONFLICT OF LAWS: CONCEPTS AND INSIGHTS (Foundation Press 2nd ed. 2015).
CONFLICT OF LAWS: CASES, COMMENTS, QUESTIONS (West 9th ed. 2013) (with Herma Hill Kay and Larry Kramer.)
THE MYTH OF JUDICIAL ACTIVISM: MAKING SENSE OF SUPREME COURT DECISIONS (Yale Univ. Press 2006).
IN THE SHADOW OF THE LAW (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).
Articles and Book Chapters
McCulloch v. Marbury, 34 CONST. COMMENT. 263 (2019) (with Heath Khan).
Legal Realism and the Conflict of Laws, 163 U. PA. L. REV. ONLINE 325 (2015)
The Ironies of Affirmative Action, 17 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 729 (2015).
Reconstruction and Resistance, 91 TEX. L. REV. 121 (2012).
Choice of Law in Federal Courts, 106 NW. U. L. REV. 1 (2012).
Cooper v. Aaron, in OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN POLITICAL AND LEGAL HISTORY (Donald T. Critchlow & Philip R. VanderMeer eds., 2012).
Law's Aspirations, 2 J. L. & INTERDISC. STUD. (2012)
What if Slaughter-House Had Been Decided Differently?, 45 IND. L. REV. 61 (2011).
Polyphonic Stare Decisis: Listening to Non-Article III Actors, 83 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1303 (2008)
Aspiration and Underenforcement, 119 HARV. L. REV. F. 193 (2006),
Forget the Fundamentals: Fixing Substantive Due Process, 8 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 983 (2006).
Constitutional Calcification: How the Law Becomes What the Court Does, 91 VA. L. REV. 1649 (2005).
Guantanamo and the Conflict of Laws: Rasul and Beyond, 153 U. PA. L. REV. 2017 (2005).
Justice Scalia’s Constitution – and Ours, 8 U. PA. J. L. & SOC. CHANGE 27 (2005).
More publications can be found here.
Working Papers
Certainty vs. Flexibility in the Conflict of Laws (December 12, 2018), in THE CONTINUING RELEVANCE OF PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ITS CHALLENGES (F. Ferrari & D. Fernandez Arroyo eds., Elgar, forthcoming 2019).; U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 18-40. (forthcoming 2019)
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Research Areas
- Conflict of Laws
- Constitutional Law
- Law and Technology
Positions
Penn Law - Professor (2007- ); Assistant Professor (2002-05)
Associate - Mayer, Brown & Platt, Chicago (2000-02)
Yale Law - Fellow, Information Society Project (1998- )
Law Clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice David H. Souter (1999-2000)
Law Clerk to the Hon. Stephen F. Williams, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (1997-98)
Professional Activities
Member, American Law Institute
Chair-Elect, AALS Section on Conflict of Laws, 2009-10; Chair, 10-11; Executive Board 10-11
Ad Hoc Peer Reviewer: Journal of Empirical Legal Studies; Public Administration Review; Polity; Yale University Press; Oxford University Press; Aspen; West.
Advisory Board, Law Leader Quarterly
Advisory Board, Roosevelt Institution
Courses
- Conflict of Laws
- Constitutional Law