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Seth Kreimer

Kenneth W. Gemmill Professor of Law

Seth Kreimer

 Seth Kreimer’s first article, Allocational Sanctions: The Problem of Negative Rights in a Positive State, set the terms for a generation of discussion of unconstitutional conditions on public benefits. His subsequent work has shaped analysis of privacy of information, abortion regulation, assisted suicide, and gay marriage. Continue reading…  Seth Kreimer’s first article, Allocational Sanctions: The Problem of Negative Rights in a Positive State, set the terms for a generation of discussion of unconstitutional conditions on public benefits. His subsequent work has shaped analysis of privacy of information, abortion regulation, assisted suicide, and gay marriage. He has explored the implications of DNA testing in criminal justice, free speech on the Internet, and the dangers of abuse in the “war on terror.”


Kreimer has represented plaintiffs in a wide array of litigation. He served as co-counsel in Ferguson v. City of Charleston (U.S. Supreme Court 2001), establishing the right of obstetrical patients to refuse non-consensual drug testing; In Re R.B.F. (Pa. Supreme Court 2002), securing the right of gay and lesbian parents to establish families by second parent adoption; Nixon v. Commonwealth (Pa. Supreme Court 2003), challenging the constitutionality of lifetime disqualification of ex-offenders from employment; Buck v. Stankovic (M. D. Pa. 2007), enjoining denial of a marriage license to a citizen who wished to marry an undocumented non-citizen and Miller v. Mitchell (3rd Cir 2010) the first successful constitutional challenge to a prosecution of a minor for “sexting.”




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Expertise

  • Constitutional Law
  • Civil Rights Law
  • Constitutional Litigation

Books

THE PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTION: A TREATISE ON INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES (George T. Bisel Company, Inc. 2004) (co-author).

Articles and Book Chapters

Pervasive Image Capture and the First Amendment: Memory, Discourse, and the Right to Record, 159 U. PA. L. REV. 335 (2011).

The Responsibilities of the Jewish Lawyer, in HOWARD LESNICK, RELIGION IN LEGAL THOUGHT AND PRACTICE 19 (2010).

The Freedom of Information Act and the Ecology of Transparency, 10 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 1011 (2008).

Rays of Sunlight in a Shadow "War": Subconstitutional Structures of Transparency and Antiterrorist Abuses, 11 LEWIS & CLARK L. REV. 1141 (2007).

Rejecting “Uncontrolled Authority Over the Body”: The Decencies of Civilized Conduct , the Past and the Future of Unenumerated Rights, 9 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 423 (2007).

Censorship by Proxy: The First Amendment, Internet Intermediaries and the Problem of the Weakest Link, 155 U. PA. L. REV. 11 (2006).

Torture Lite, Full-Bodied Torture, and the Insulation of Legal Conscience, 1 J. NATIONAL SECURITY L. & POL'Y 187 (2005).

Truth Machines and Consequences: The Light and Dark Sides of 'Accuracy' in Criminal Justice, 60 N.Y.U. ANN. SURV. AM. L. 655 (2005).

Watching the Watchers: Surveillance, Transparency, and Political Freedom in the War on Terror, 7 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 133 (2004).

Too Close to the Rack and the Screw: Constitutional Constraints on Torture in the War on Terror, 6 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 278 (2003).

Constitutional Principles and Collateral Damage, 6 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 327 (2003).

Responding to Terrorism, University of Pennsylvania Symposium Presentation

Lines in the Sand: The Importance of Borders in American Federalism, 150 U. PA. L. REV. 973 (2002).

Double Helix, Double Bind; Factual Innocence and Post Conviction DNA Testing, 151 U. PA. L. REV. 547 (with David Rudovsky) (2002).

The Pennsylvania Constitution's Protection of Free Expression, 5 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 12 (2002).

Federalism and Freedom 574 ANNALS AM. ACAD. POL. SOC. SCI. 66 (2001).

Technologies of Protest: Insurgent Social Movements and the First Amendment in the Era of the Internet, 150 U. PA. L. REV. 119 (2001).

Invidious Comparisons: Some Cautionary Remarks on the Process of Constitutional Borrowing, 1 U. PA. J. CON. LAW 640 (1999).

The New Etiquette of Federalism: New York, Printz and Yeskey, 1998 SUP. CT. REV. 71 (with Matthew Adler).

The Second Time as Tragedy: The Assisted Suicide Cases and the Heritage of Roe v. Wade, 24 HASTINGS CONST. L.Q. 863 (1997).

More publications can be found here.

Research Areas

  • Free Speech and Civil Liberties
  • Constitutional Remedies
  • State Constitutional Law
  • Federalism

Positions

Penn Law - Kenneth W. Gemmill Professor of Law (2004- ); Associate Dean and Professor of Law (2002-04); Professor of Law (1992-2002); Associate Professor of Law (1985-92); Assistant Professor of Law (1981-85)

Chair, Legal Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, Philadelphia Chapter (2004- )

Fine, Kaplan & Black, Philadelphia Pa. - Associate (1978-81)

Law Clerk to the Hon. Arlin M. Adams, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1977-78)

Professional Activities

Member American Law Institute (2009- present)

Member of the Board, American Civil Liberties Union, Philadelphia Chapter (1982 present); Cooperating Attorney (1979 present); Chair, Legal Committee (2004-present)

Womens Law Project Cooperating Attorney (1979 present); (Board of Directors, 1991-1997); (Litigation Committee 1997-present)

Member: American Jewish Congress Commission on Social Action (1986-1996)

Courses

  • Constitutional Law
  • Constitutional Litigation
  • Complex Litigation
  • First Amendment
  • Individual Rights and Health Care
  • Privacy and Disclosure

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