Thomas R. McCoy
Professor of Law Emeritus
Voice: (615) 322-2711
Fax: (615) 322-6631
Email: thomas.mccoy@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Room 271
Research Interests
A wide range of free speech issues and the doctrinal problems presented by the religion clauses of the First Amendment.
Education
LL.M. Harvard University
J.D. University of Cincinnati
B.S. Xavier University
Biography
During his 39-year career as a Vanderbilt law professor, Tom McCoy was one of the most celebrated teachers on the law faculty. He was the inaugural holder of the Tarkington Chair in Teaching Excellence. Over the course of his academic career, he taught extensively in the constitutional law curriculum as well as conflicts of laws. A frequent speaker on First Amendment issues, he serves as an advisor to the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center at the Vanderbilt Institute of Public Policy Studies. Professor McCoy has served on the Tennessee Supreme Court's Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution. He joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1968 and retired in 2007.
Representative Publications
Articles
- "Understanding McConnell v. FEC and Its Implications for the Constitutional Protection of Corporate Speech," 54 DePaul Law Review 1043 (2005)
- "Quo Vadis: Is the Establishment Clause Undergoing Metamorphosis?" 41 Brandeis Law Journal 547 (2003)
- "Commentary: Legislative Remedies No Antidote to 'Smith' Decision," Legal Watch (1998)
- "A Consumer's Guide to Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques: What You Should Expect (or Demand) from ADR Services," 26 U. Memphis Law Review 975 (1996)
- "A Coherent Methodology for First Amendment Speech and Religion Clause Cases," 48 Vanderbilt Law Review 1335 (1995)
- "Commentary on Katzenbach v. McClung," in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (1992)
- "Conditional Spending," in Encyclopedia of the American Constitution (1992) (with B. Friedman)
