James E. Fleming

Interests: constitutional law; constitutional theory; constitutional interpretation; political philosophy; law and philosophy; theories of democracy; torts; remedies

James E. Fleming, before joining the faculty of Boston University School of Law in Fall 2007, was the Leonard F. Manning Distinguished Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law. He writes in constitutional law and constitutional theory and teaches courses in constitutional law, constitutional theory, torts and remedies. He is the author of Securing Constitutional Democracy: The Case of Autonomy (University of Chicago Press, 2006), co-author of Constitutional Interpretation: The Basic Questions (Oxford University Press, 2007) (with Sotirios A. Barber of University of Notre Dame) (designated as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title), and co-author of American Constitutional Interpretation (4th ed., Foundation Press, 2008) (with Walter F. Murphy and Stephen Macedo of Princeton University and Sotirios A. Barber). His fourth book, Rights, Responsibilities, and Virtues (with his wife, Linda C. McClain, who is Professor of Law and Paul M. Siskind Research Scholar at Boston University School of Law), is under contract with Harvard University Press. His fifth book, Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution, is under contract with Oxford University Press. He also is to be co-author of the fifth edition of Tort and Accident Law: Cases and Materials (with Robert E. Keeton and Lewis D. Sargentich of Harvard Law School and Gregory C. Keating of University of Southern California Law School). He is Editor of NOMOS, the annual book of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, and in that capacity is editing books entitled Evolution and Morality, Getting to the Rule of Law, and Passions and Emotions, all to be published by New York University Press.

Professor Fleming received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. During the 1999-2000 year, he was a Faculty Fellow in Ethics in the Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Professions. He has organized or co-organized many conferences in constitutional theory, including Fidelity in Constitutional Theory, The Constitution and the Good Society, Rawls and the Law and A New Constitutional Order?, together with Theories of Constitutional Self-Government, Integrity in the Law and Theories of Taking the Constitution Seriously Outside the Courts, all published in Fordham Law Review. He also co-edited (with BU Law Professor Linda C. McClain) a symposium on Legal and Constitutional Implications of the Calls to Revive Civil Society, published in Chicago-Kent Law Review. In May 2007, Fordham Law Review published a symposium on Minimalism versus Perfectionism in Constitutional Theory, focusing on Professor Fleming’s book, Securing Constitutional Democracy, along with Cass R. Sunstein’s book, Radicals in Robes.

Since coming to Boston University, Professor Fleming has organized conferences entitled The Most Disparaged Branch: The Role of Congress in the 21st Century, November 14-15, 2008, and Justice for Hedgehogs: A Conference on Ronald Dworkin’s Forthcoming Book, held September 25-26, 2010. Both have been published in Boston University Law Review. He is Faculty Advisor to Boston University Law Review.