Keith E. Whittington

Keith E. Whittington is the David Boies Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Whittington’s teaching and scholarship span American constitutional theory, American political and constitutional history, judicial politics, the presidency, and free speech and the law. He is the author of You Can't Teach That! The Battle Over University Classrooms (2024), Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present (2019), and Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech (2018), as well as Constitutional Interpretation (1999), Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy (2007), and other works on constitutional theory and law and politics.

Whittington has spent most of his career at Princeton University, where he served as the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics from 2006 to 2024. He has also held visiting appointments at Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard Law School, and the University of Texas School of Law.

Whittington serves as Founding Chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance’s Academic Committee and as a Hoover Institution Visiting Fellow. He has been a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellow, an American Council of Learned Societies Junior Faculty Fellow, a National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement Fellow, and a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center. A member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, Whittington served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.

A graduate of Yale University and the University of Texas at Austin, Whittington has written extensively for a general audience. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Reason, and Lawfare. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracy and hosts The Academic Freedom Podcast.

Engagement as an HxA Member:
Presented at HxA Virtual Event, Summit, or Conference
Published on HxA: The Blog
Guest on HxA Podcast
HxA Writers Group Member or Veteran
Active Member of an HxCommunity
Active Member of an HxA Campus Community
Faculty Fellow at HxA Center for Academic Pluralism
Speaker's Title and Institutional/Organizational Affiliation: David Boies Professor, Yale Law School
Event Type :
Lecture/Presentation
Fireside Chat
Book Talk
Constitution Day Event
Classroom Visit
Workshop
Podcast
Debate, Forum, or HxConversation
Speaking Topics - List up to 5 specific topics or titles, each separated by a semicolon: campus free speech; academic freedom; free speech; constitutionalism; higher education
Blackout Dates (Dates speaker is unavailable, Days/Month/Year): n/a
Distance Willing to Travel: Any/No Limits to Travel Radius
Scholarly Area: Law
Modality of Event : In Person and/or Virtual
Speaking Fee (Not including travel/lodging expenses): $2,000-$5,000 USD
Recent Appearance (1 of 5) -title, host institution, year: Berkeley, Freedom of Speech and Struggle to End Slavery, 2024
Recent Appearance (2 of 5) -title, host institution, year: Brown, Is Academic Freedom Under Threat?, 2024
Recent Appearance (3 of 5) -title, host institution, year: Colgate, Equity and Free Speech, 2024
Recent Appearance (4 of 5) -title, host institution, year: Vanderbilt, Academic Freedom, 2024
Recent Appearance (5 of 5) -title, host institution, year: Indiana, Intellectual Diversity Mandate, 2024
Link to Speaker's Professional Website (to include sample writings and more extensive bio): https://kewhitt.scholar.princeton.edu/home