Georgetown Center for the Constitution Announces Professor Stephanie Barclay as Faculty Co-Director

April 16, 2024

The Georgetown Center for the Constitution welcomes Professor Stephanie Barclay, currently a Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, to serve as faculty co-director alongside Professor Randy Barnett. She will join the Center and the Georgetown Law faculty in Fall of 2024. At Notre Dame, she is faculty director of the Religious Liberty Initiative, which promotes freedom of religion or belief for all people through advocacy, student formation and scholarship. 

Barnett commented: “Stephanie is a highly respected and prolific scholar on constitutional rights, including religious liberty and First Amendment rights. I could not be more thrilled at the prospect of her joining us. With Stephanie’s skill set, she will greatly expand the scope and success of the Center’s activities both within and beyond Georgetown Law.”

Barclay commented: “I’m delighted to join the incredible scholars on the faculty at Georgetown, and to have the chance to work alongside Professor Randy Barnett. He has built an academic center that is having a huge impact in expanding our nation’s understanding and appreciation of the U.S. Constitution. I feel honored to join him and further that important work.”

Professor Barclay has published work in journals such as the Harvard Law Review, the Chicago Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal Forum. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, along with other state and federal courts. Prior to her time at Notre Dame, Barclay was also an Associate Professor of Law at BYU Law, where she was twice voted Professor of the Year. Before becoming a professor, Barclay litigated First Amendment cases in Washington, D.C., where she represented many clients at both the trial and appellate level, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. Barclay has also served as a law clerk to Judge N. Randy Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Justice Neil M. Gorsuch of the U.S. Supreme Court.

William M. Treanor, Dean and Executive Vice President, commented: “I am very pleased to welcome Stephanie Barclay to the Georgetown Law community, to which the Georgetown Center for the Constitution has added so much. I look forward to her contributions as the Center for the Constitution expands and enhances its important endeavors.”

Barclay is a Faculty Affiliate at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and a Nootbaar Fellow at the Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics at Pepperdine University. She has served as the Chair for the AALS Law and Religion Section and currently serves as a Research Associate for the Centre for Constitutional Law and Legal Studies at the University of British Columbia and on the Steering Committee for the Quill Project at Pembroke College. She graduated summa cum laude from BYU Law School, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She is completing a Ph.D. in Law at Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar and a Tang Scholar.

Follow the Center for the Constitution at @guconstitution, Professor Barnett @randyebarnett, and Professor Barclay at @shbarclay.

For more information, please contact the Center for the Constitution at lawconstitution@georgetown.edu.