Jay Wexler

Jay D. Wexler

Professor of Law

Michaels Faculty Research Scholar

BA magna cum laude, Harvard University
MA, University of Chicago Divinity School
JD, Stanford University


Biography

Professor Jay Wexler has taught at Boston University School of Law since 2001. He earned tenure in 2007 and was awarded the Michael Melton Award for Excellence in Teaching at the law school in 2009. Professor Wexler’s scholarship focuses on church-state law, constitutional law, environmental law, and marijuana law. His articles, essays, and reviews have been published in the BYU Law Review, George Washington Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Minnesota Law Review, Texas Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, Washington University Law Review, and William and Mary Law Review, among other places.

Professor Wexler is also the author of seven books. His most recent volume, Weed Rules: Blazing the Way to a Just and Joyful Marijuana Policy, was published by University of California Press in April 2023. His prior book, Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life, was published in 2019 by Redwood Press, the trade imprint of Stanford University Press, and won a 2019 Independent Publishers Gold Medal award in the Religion category. Wexler’s other books have focused on topics such as the environmental impacts of religious practices around the world and quirky but important clauses in the U.S. Constitution. In addition, Wexler writes legal fiction and has published a novel, Tuttle in the Balance, about a Supreme Court justice having a mid-life crisis. Professor Wexler’s shorter pieces have appeared in places like the Boston Globe, Huffington Post, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Mental Floss, National Geographic’s NewsWatch, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Salon, Slate, Spy, USA Today, and Vox.

Wexler speaks on church-state and other constitutional issues across the United States and internationally. In the fall of 2022, he spent six weeks as a visiting scholar at the Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law, the first and only law school in the Kingdom of Bhutan. In 2014, Wexler taught US Constitutional Law on a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Buenos Aires. He has previously taught constitutional civil liberties at the University of Lyon 3 and church-state law on a Fulbright Fellowship at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. He has delivered lectures on constitutional and environmental topics in Bangkok, Hanoi, Madrid, Moscow, Oslo, Santiago, Tallinn, and Warsaw. In addition, Professor Wexler has appeared as a church-state law expert in the documentary film Hail Satan? which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018, and in an episode of the Emmy award winning A&E series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.

Before coming to BU Law, Professor Wexler worked as a law clerk for Judge David Tatel on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the United States Supreme Court. From 1999 to 2001, he was an attorney advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice where he provided advice on constitutional and statutory issues to various members of the executive branch.

Publications

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  • Jay D. Wexler, Weed Rules: Toward a Just, Joyous, and Sensible Marijuana Policy in a Post-Legalization Nation (2023)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Justices Citing Justices 26 Green Bag (2023)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler & Connor Burns, American Edibles: How Cannabis Regulatory Policy Rehashes Prohibitionist Fears and What to do About It 44 Seattle University Law Review (2021)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Secular Invocations and the Promise of Religious Pluralism 26 Roger Williams University Law Review (2021)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Our Non-Christian Nation: How Wiccans, Satanists, Atheists, and Other Non-Christians are Demanding Their Rightful Place in American Public Life (2019)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, When Religion Pollutes: How Should Law Respond When Religious Practice Threatens Public Health?, in Law, Religion, and Health in the United States (Holly Fernandez Lynch, I. Glenn Cohen, Elizabeth Sepper,2017)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, When God is Not Green: A World-wide Journey to Places Where Religious Practice and Environmentalism Collide (2016)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Tuttle in the Balance: A Novel (2015)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Constitutional Exaptation, Political Dysfunction, and the Recess Appointments Clause 94 Boston University Law Review (2014)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Some Thoughts on the First Amendment's Religion Clauses and Abner Greene's Against Obligation, with Reference to Patton Oswalt's Character 'Paul from Staten Island' in the Film Big Fan No. 13-08 Boston University School of Law, Public Law Research Paper (2013)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, The Odd Clauses: Understanding the Constitution Through Ten of its Most Curious Provisions (2012)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Adventures of Ed Tuttle, Associate Justice, and Other Stories (2012)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler & David Hatton, The First Ever (Maybe) Original Jurisdiction Standings 1 Journal of Legal Metrics (2012)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Government Disapproval of Religion No. 11-32 Boston University School of Law, Public Law Research Paper (2011)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, I'm a Laycockian! (for the Most Part) 89 Texas Law Review (2011) (book review)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Eagle Party 14 Green Bag 2d (2011)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, From the Classroom to the Courtroom: Intelligent Design and the Constitution 3 Evolution: Education and Outreach (2010)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church/State Wars (2009)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Justice Ginsburg's Footnotes 43 New England Law Review (2009)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Intelligent Design and Judicial Minimalism: Further Thoughts on the 'Is It Science?' Question 4 University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy (2009)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Religion in Public Schools, in The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion (Richard A. Shweder,2009)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, What Should We Teach When We Teach About Religion? The Case for a Global Perspective, Conference Proceedings: Religion and the Rule of Law in Southeast Asia: Continuing the Discussion (2007)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Protecting Religion Through Statute: The Mixed Case of the United States 5 Review of Faith and International Affairs (2007)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Kitzmiller and the "Is it Science?" Question 5 First Amendment Law Review (2006)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, The Endorsement Court 21 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy (2006)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Intelligent Design and the First Amendment: A Response 84 Washington University Law Quarterly (2006)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Too Much, Too Little: Religion in the Public Schools 6 University of Maryland Journal of Race, Religion, Gender, and Class (2006)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Laugh Track 9 Green Bag 2d (2005)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Parks as Gyms? Recreational Paradigms and Public Health in the National Parks 30 American Journal of Law & Medicine (2004)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Darwin, Design, and Disestablishment: Teaching the Evolution Controversy in Public Schools 56 Vanderbilt Law Review (2003)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Framing the Public Square 91 Georgetown Law Journal (2002) (book review)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Preparing for the Clothed Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic Education, and the Constitution 43 William and Mary Law Review (2002)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Defending the Middle Way: Intermediate Scrutiny as Judicial Minimalism 66 George Washington Law Review (1998)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Of Pandas, People, and the First Amendment: The Constitutionality of Teaching Intelligent Design in the Public Schools 49 Stanford Law Review (1997)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Review of Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner 16 Stanford Environmental Law Journal (1997) (book review)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jay D. Wexler, Risk in the Balance 30 Connecticut Law Review (1997) (book review)
    Scholarly Commons

In the Media

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  • Fairbanks Daily News-Miner September 1, 2023

    Book Review — Weed Rules

    Jay Wexler's book is reviewed.
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  • Connecticut Public Radio July 12, 2023

    Blazing the Trail: The Push to Legalize Cannabis in Connecticut and across the US

    Jay Wexler is a guest on a podcast.
    read more

  • Fox Business June 10, 2023

    Cannabis Brings So Much Joy to So Many People: Jay Wexler

    Jay Wexler is interviewed.
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  • Stanford Lawyer June 9, 2023

    In Print: Jay Wexler, JD ’97

    Jay Wexler's book is featured.
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  • San Diego Magazine June 7, 2023

    How to Move Forward with Cannabis in a Post-Legislation Era

    Jay Wexler appears on a podcast.
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  • BU Today April 14, 2023

    LAW’s Jay Wexler Fires up Arguments to Normalize Pot in New Book

    Jay Wexler's new book is discussed.
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  • Cannabis Business Times March 7, 2023

    5 Things We Learned about the Seeds Market since the DEA’s Historic Announcement

    Jay Wexler is quoted.
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  • ABA Journal February 1, 2023

    New Cannabis Laws Could Make It Harder for Employers to Fire Impaired Workers

    Jay Wexler is quoted.
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  • News From The States September 19, 2022

    Update: Arkansas Groups Voice Concern about Impact of Recreational Marijuana Proposal on Hemp

    Jay Wexler is quoted.
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  • The New Yorker

    Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over

    Jay Wexler is quoted.
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  • MPR News July 12, 2022

    Ask Us Anything About Minnesota’s New THC Edibles Law

    Jay Wexler provides insight.
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  • New Books Network

    On Our Non-Christian Nation

    Jay Wexler speaks on a podcast.
    read more

  • Reddit April 20, 2022

    Ask Me Anything About How States Have Legalized Cannabis in the U.S.

    A forum hosted by Jay Wexler.
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  • The New Yorker February 7, 2022

    Amy Coney Barrett’s Long Game

    Jay Wexler is quoted.
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  • The New York Times January 31, 2022

    With Breyer’s Exit, a Farewell to Marshmallow Guns and Tomato Children

    Jay Wexler is quoted.
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