Douglas Laycock is the Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor at the
University of Virginia School of Law, and a leading scholar in the areas of religious liberty and the law of remedies. He also serves as the 2nd Vice President of the
American Law Institute and is an elected Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
.
Education
Laycock received his bachelor's degree from
Michigan State University and his J.D. from the
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
.
Academic career
He was a professor at the
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
, the
University of Texas School of Law
The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...
, and the
University of Michigan Law School
The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...
, before he joined the faculty of the
University of Virginia School of Law in the fall of 2010.
He was a member of the Panel of Academic Contributors for ''
Black's Law Dictionary'', 8th ed. (West Group, 2004) (). In addition, he was elected to the
American Law Institute in 1983 and was elected to the ALI Council in May 2001. In 2008 and again in 2011, he was elected to three-year terms as ALI's 2nd Vice President.
Legal work and writings on religious liberty
Laycock was one of the people who testified in favor of the Religious Liberty Protection Act of 1998. He has argued that exempting religious practices from regulation is constitutionally a good thing. But he acknowledges limits to such exemptions; he has said that "Of course religious believers have no constitutional right to inflict significant harm on nonconsenting others."
He has represented parties in four Supreme Court cases on religious liberty. He represented the
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye,
successfully defending its right to sacrifice small animals in religious ceremonies. He represented the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Antonio in an unsuccessful defense of Congress's power to enact the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and apply it to the states. And he represented anonymous parents and students in their successful objection to school-sponsored prayer at high school football games. Most recently, he successfully represented Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran Church in a case establishing the constitutional status of the
ministerial exception.
He is one of three co-editors of the book ''Same Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty''. His own chapter in that volume argues that it is desirable, and usually possible, to protect the liberty of same-sex couples and also protect the liberty of religious conservatives who do not wish to support or facilitate same-sex marriages.
In the field of remedies, he is the author of a casebook, ''Modern American Remedies'', and a monograph, ''The Death of the Irreparable Injury Rule.'' He has also written a history of the field.
Awards
In 2012, the
International Center for Law and Religion Studies and
J. Reuben Clark Law School of
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...
presented Laycock their International Religious Liberty Award.
Personal life
He is married to
Teresa A. Sullivan, who served as the first female president of the University of Virginia from 2010 to 2018.
[Colleen Flaherty]
Transparency vs. Censorship
'' Inside Higher Ed'', May 29, 2014
References
UofM faculty bioUT faculty bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laycock, Douglas
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
University of Chicago alumni
Michigan State University alumni
University of Texas at Austin faculty
University of Chicago faculty
University of Michigan faculty
American lawyers
University of Virginia School of Law faculty
Members of the American Law Institute