Vanderbilt University Law School

Suzanna Sherry

Herman O. Loewenstein Professor of Law

Voice: (615) 322-0993
Fax: (615) 322-6631
Email: suzanna.sherry@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Room 238
View curriculum vitae (.pdf)

Research Interest(s)

Constitutional law, including constitutional history and constitutional theory; federal courts; civil procedure; judicial behavior

Education

J.D. University of Chicago
A.B. Middlebury College

Biography

Suzanna Sherry's work in the area of constitutional law has earned her national recognition as one of the most well-known scholars in the field. The author of more than 70 books and articles, she also writes extensively on federal courts and federal court procedures. After graduating from law school, Professor Sherry was a clerk for the Honorable John C. Godbold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Montgomery, Alabama, and then served as an associate with the law firm of Miller Cassidy Larroca & Lewin in Washington, D.C. She joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2000 as the inaugural holder of the Cal Turner Chair, having previously served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School faculty since 1982. She was named to the Herman O. Loewenstein Chair in Law in 2006. She is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Society for Legal History and Phi Beta Kappa.

Representative Publications

Books

Judgment Calls: Principle and Politics in Constitutional Law (2008) (with Daniel A. Farber)
Desperately Seeking Certainty: The Misguided Quest for Constitutional Foundations (2002) (with Daniel A. Farber)
Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law (1997) (with Daniel A. Farber)
Civil Procedure (2nd edition 2008 plus annual supplements) (with T.D. Rowe, Jr. & J. Tidmarsh)
Federal Courts: Cases, Comments, and Questions (6th edition 2006 plus annual supplements) (with M. Redish)
A History of the American Constitution (2nd edition 2005) (with Daniel A. Farber)
What Every Law Student Really Needs to Know: An Introduction to the Study of Law (2009) (with Tracey E. George)
Civil Procedure Essentials (2007) (with J. Tidmarsh)

Articles

“Habeas Corpus and State Sentencing Reform: A Story of Unintended Consequences,” 58 Duke Law Journal 1 (2008) (with Nancy J. King)
“The First Amendment and the Freedom to Differ,” in The Bill of Rights in Modern America, David J. Bodenhamer & James W. Ely Jr., eds. (revised & expanded edition 2008)

Working Papers

"Building a Better Judiciary," in The Psychology of Judicial Decision Making, David Klein & Gregory Mitchell, eds. (forthcoming, Oxford University Press, 2009) (with Daniel A. Farber)

Presentations

"Principle and Politics in American Constitutional Law," Swift Lecture in Constitutionalism, Middlebury College, April 2009
"A Review of the Supreme Court's 2007 Term," United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Annual Judicial Conference, August 2008
“Overruling Erie: Nationwide Class Actions and National Common Law,” at "Fairness to Whom? Perspectives on the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005," University of Pennsylvania, December 2007 (published in 156 University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 2008)
“Executive Power and the War on Terror,” at the Supreme Court Preview, Institute of Bill of Rights Law, William & Mary School of Law, September 2007
“Democracy and the Death of Knowledge,” 2006 William Howard Taft Lecture in Constitutional Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law, November 2006 (published in 75 University of Cincinnati Law Review 1053, 2007)

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