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Michael P. Moreland

University Professor of Law and Religion
Director, Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy

Biography

Michael Moreland was appointed University Professor of Law and Religion and director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy in 2017. Moreland joined the ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ faculty in 2006 and served as Vice Dean from 2012 to 2015. At ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥, he has taught Torts, Evidence, Bioethics and the Law, Advanced Torts, Constitutional Law II (First Amendment and Equal Protection), Justice and Rights (1L elective), and seminars in law and religion.

As University Professor, Moreland will promote cross-campus research, programming and collaboration; foster high-visibility academic initiatives at the national and international levels; have the ability to teach across the University; and position ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ as a leader at the crossroads of law, religion and public policy. In his role with the McCullen Center, Moreland will oversee the creation of innovative academic programming, a visiting scholars program and conferences on emerging issues in these fields.

A renowned scholar of constitutional law, torts, bioethics and religious freedom, Moreland is frequently sought for commentary at national and international conferences, in the media, and before Congress. He has published articles in leading legal, public policy and medical journals, including Notre Dame Law Review,ÌýJournal of Intensive Care Medicine,ÌýGeorgetown Journal of Law & Public PolicyÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýLaw and Contemporary Problems. His chapters on law, ethics and religion have been featured in numerous books, including titles published by Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.

Most recently, Moreland was a visiting professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame and the Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture from 2015 to 2017. He was the Forbes Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions during academic year 2010-11. Moreland served as the project leader for The Libertas Project, a program from 2013 to 2015 at ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ sponsored by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation exploring religious and economic freedom in the context of law and religion in American public life.

Moreland received his BA in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame, his MA and PhD in theological ethics from Boston College, and his JD from the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, Professor Moreland clerked for the Honorable Paul J. Kelly Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and was an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC, where he represented clients in First Amendment, professional liability, and products liability matters. Before coming to ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥, he served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy at the White House under President George W. Bush, where he worked on a range of legal policy issues, including criminal justice, immigration, civil rights, and liability reform.

Practice Experience

  • Judicial Clerk to Hon. Paul J. Kelly, Jr., United States Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit
  • Williams & Connolly LLP (Washington, DC)
  • The White House
  • Joined the faculty in 2006

Recent Publications

  • The Authority of Tradition: John Henry Newman and Legal Theory, Book Chapter, Working Paper2025

  • Christianity and Tort Law, Book Chapter, Oxford University Press, May 2023

  • Germaneness and Religious Liberty, Article, Notre Dame Law Review2023

  • Response: Christianity, Liberalism, and Constitutionalism, Article, Notre Dame Law Review2023

  • Friendship as the Primary Purposes of Law, Article, American Journal of Jurisprudence, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2022

Recent Presentations

  • 'Irish Christian Jurists', The Authority of Tradition: John Henry Newman and Legal Theory, University of Notre Dame, Kylemore Abbey, County Galway, Ireland. May 2024

  • Religious Freedom and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. January 2024

  • Common Good Constitutionalism, Christian Legal Society, Boston, Massachusetts. October 2023

  • Religious Liberty and the American Founding, University of Notre Dame, September 2023

  • 'Summer Teacher Institute', First Amendment: Establishment and Free Exercise of Religion, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. July 2023

°¿´Ú´Ú¾±³¦±ð:ÌýRm 336, John F. Scarpa Hall
±Ê³ó´Ç²Ô±ð:Ìý610-519-3297
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Courses and Seminars

  • Bioethics and the Law
  • Catholic Social Teaching and the Law
  • Constitutional Law I & II
  • Evidence
  • Justice & Rights
  • Law and Religion Seminar
  • Torts

Education

  • University of Michigan, JD
  • Boston College, MA, PhD
  • University of Notre Dame, BA