College of Law

Lee J. Strang

Lee J. Strang, J.D., LL.M.

John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values

Office: LC 2007D
Campus Phone: 419.530.2877; Fax: 419.530.2439
Email: Lee.Strang@utoledo.edu

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Professor Strang joined the faculty in 2008, was granted tenure in 2010, and was named John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values in 2015. Before that, he was a visiting Professor at Michigan State University College of Law. A graduate of the University of Iowa, where he was Articles Editor of the Iowa Law Review and Order of the Coif, Professor Strang also holds an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School. During the fall, 2015, Professor Strang was a visiting scholar at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. In 2016, he was appointed to the Ohio Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and appointed chair in 2022. The University of Toledo awarded Professor Strang its Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award in 2017. During the 2018-2019 academic year, Professor Strang was a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University. Professor Strang received The University of Toledo's Inclusive Excellence Award in 2021 for his contributions to the University's diversity, and President Postel conferred on Professor Strang the 2021 UToledo Creative and Scholarly Activity Award. Professor Strang was named to the advisory council of the Center for Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, which includes Justice Alito and scholars from Oxford and Notre Dame. In 2023, Professor Strang was named the inaugural director of the Institute of American Constitutional Thought & Leadership.

Prior to teaching, Professor Strang served as a judicial clerk for Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was also an associate for Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago, where he practiced in general and appellate litigation.

A prolific scholar, Professor Strang has published dozens of articles in the fields of constitutional law and interpretation, property law, and religion and the First Amendment. His most recent book, Originalism’s Promise: A Natural Law Account of the American Constitution (Cambridge University Press 2019), is the first natural law justification for originalism. Among other scholarly projects, he is currently editing the third edition of his unique, multi-volume, "modular" case book Federal Constitutional Law for Carolina Academic Press, and writing a book on the history of Catholic legal education.

Professor Strang is a frequent presenter at scholarly conferences. He is a regular participant in debates at law schools across the country, contributor to the media, and speaker to political, civic, and religious groups. He also consults on a wide variety of constitutional law issues including free speech and religious exercise, state constitutional law cases, and property law topics. In 2022, Professor Strang convened the first symposium on common good constitutionalism, hosted by the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, at the Harvard Law School.


Selected Publications

Book

Originalism’s Promise: A Natural Law Account of the American Constitution (Cambridge U. Press 2019)

Casebook

Scott W. Gaylord, Christopher R. Green & Lee J. Strang, Cases and Materials on Federal Constitutional Law: Introduction to Interpretive Methods, and Federal Judicial Power (2d ed. Carolina Academic Press 2015) (Volume 1 in the Modular Casebook Series)

Scott W. Gaylord, Christopher R. Green & Lee J. Strang, Cases and Materials on Federal Constitutional Law: Federal Executive Power and the Separation of Powers (2d ed. Carolina Academic Press 2015)(Volume 2 in the Modular Casebook Series)

Scott W. Gaylord, Christopher R. Green & Lee J. Strang, Cases and Materials on Federal Constitutional Law: Federal Legislative Power (2d ed. Carolina Academic Press 2015) (Volume 3 in the Modular Casebook Series)

Scott W. Gaylord, Christopher R. Green & Lee J. Strang, Cases and Materials on Federal Constitutional Law: Federalism Limits on State and Federal Power (2d ed. Carolina Academic Press  2017) (Volume 4 in the Modular Casebook Series)

Scott W. Gaylord, Christopher R. Green & Lee J. Strang, Cases and Materials on Federal Constitutional Law: The Reconstruction Amendments (2d ed. Carolina Academic Press 2016) (Volume 5 in the Modular Casebook Series) 

Scott W. Gaylord, Christopher R. Green & Lee J. Strang, Cases and Materials on Federal Constitutional Law: The First Amendment (Carolina Academic Press 2014) (Volume 6 in the Modular Casebook Series)

Law Review Articles

How Big Data Increases Originalism’s Methodological Rigor: Using Corpus Linguistics to Recover Original Language Conventions, 50 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1181 (2017). 

An Evaluation of Historical Evidence for Constitutional Construction From the First Congress’ Debate Over the Constitutionality of the First Bank of the United States, 14 U. St. Thomas L.J. 193 (2018) (invited symposium essay)

The Original Meaning of “Religion” in the First Amendment: A Test Case of Originalism's Utilization of Corpus Linguistics, 2017 BYU L. Rev. 101

The Incorporation Doctrine's Costs and Benefits: A Cautionary Note for the European Union, 24 Ind. J. Global L. Stud. __ (forthcoming 2017) (invited symposium essay)

State Court Judges Are Not Bound by U.S. Supreme Court Nonoriginalist Interpretations, 11 FIU L. Rev. 327 (2016) (invited symposium essay)

Originalism’s Subject Matter: Why the Declaration of Independence is Not Part of the Constitution, 89 S. Cal. L. Rev. 637 (2016) (invited symposium essay)

The Forgotten Jurisprudential Debate: Catholic Legal Thought’s Response to Legal Realism, 98 Marq. L. Rev. 1203 (2015) (with John M. Breen)

Originalism's Promise and Limits, 62 Clev. St. L. Rev. 81 (2014) (invited symposium essay)

Originalism and the Aristotelian Tradition: Virtue’s Home in Originalism, 80 Fordham L. Rev. 1997 (2012)

Originalism as Popular Constitutionalism?: Theoretical Possibilities and Practical Differences, 87 Notre Dame L. Rev. 253 (2011).

The Road Not Taken: Catholic Legal Education at the Middle of the Twentieth Century, 51 Am. J. Legal Hist. 553 (2011) (peer reviewed) (with John M. Breen). 

The Most Faithful Originalist?: Justice Thomas, Justice Scalia, and the Future of Originalism, 88 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 873 (2011) (invited symposium piece)

An Originalist Theory of Precedent: The Privileged Place of Originalist Precedent, 2010 BYU L. Rev. 1729.

Originalism and the “Challenge of Change”: Abduced-Principle Originalism and Other Mechanisms by Which Originalism Sufficiently Accommodates Changed Social Conditions, 60 Hastings L.J. 927 (2009)

The Historical (In)Accuracy of the Brandeis Dichotomy: An Assessment of Justice Brandeis’
Claim in
Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., that the Supreme Court’s Historical Practice was
to Give Constitutional Precedent Less Deference than Statutory Precedent
, 86 N.C. L. Rev. 969 (2008) (with Bryce G. Poole)

Damages as the Appropriate Remedy for “Abuse” of an Easement: Moving Toward Consistency,
Efficiency, and Fairness in Property Law
, 15 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 933 (2008)

Originalism, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution: A Unique Role in
Constitutional Interpretation?
, 111 Penn. St. L. Rev. 413 (2006)

The (Re)Turn to History in Religion Clause Law and Scholarship, 81 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1697 (2006)

An Originalist Theory of Precedent: Originalism, Nonoriginalist Precedent, and the Common
Good
, 36 N.M. L. Rev. 419 (2006)

The Role of the Christian Legal Scholar: The Call for a Modern Saint Benedict, 20 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol’y 59 (2006) (invited symposium piece)

The Role of the Common Good in Legal and Constitutional Interpretation, 3 U. St. Thomas L.J. 48 (2005)

The Clash of Rival and Incompatible Philosophical Traditions in Constitutional Interpretation: Originalism Grounded in the Central Western Philosophical Tradition, 28 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 909 (2005).

The Clash of Rival and Incompatible Philosophical Traditions in Constitutional Interpretation: Originalism and the Aristotelian Tradition, 2 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 523 (2004)

When a “Rule” Doesn’t Rule: The Failure of the Oregon Employment Division v. Smith, “Hybrid Rights Exception”, 108 Penn. St. L. Rev. 573 (2003) (with Steven H. Aden)

The Meaning of “Religion” in the First Amendment, 40 Duq. L. Rev. 181 (2002) (cited in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677, 727 (2005) (Stevens, J., dissenting)

Originalism and Legitimacy, 11 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 657 (2002)

Book Chapters

A Brief History of American Catholic Legal Education: The Arc of an Uncertain Identityin American Law from a Catholic Perspective: Through a Clearer Lens 27 (Ronald J. Rychlak ed., Rowman & Littlefield Press, 2015) (with John M. Breen).   

Originalism’s Limits: Interposition, Nullification, and Secession, in Union and States’ Rights: 150 Years After Sumter, Interposition, Nullification, and Secession (Neil H. Cogon ed., Univ. of Akron Press, 2013)

Book Reviews

The Challenge of Originalism: Theories of Constitutional Interpretation (Grant Huscroft & Bradley W. Miller, eds.). New York, Cambridge University Press. 2011. Pp. ix + 305. $99.00 (Hardback), 29 Const. Comm. 111 (2013) (book review) 

Mark Strasser, Religion, Education and the State: An Unprincipled Doctrine in Search of Moorings (Ashgate 2011), 55 J. of Church and State 353 (2013) (book review)

Richard Thompson Ford, Rights Gone Wrong: How Law Corrupts the Struggle for Equality (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011), Library of Law and Liberty (2012)

Donald L. Drakeman, Church, State, and Original Intent (Cambridge 2010), On the Square, First Things,(July 21, 2010)

Bradley C.S. Watson, Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence (ISI Books 2009), First Things, Jan. 2010, at 59-60

Last Updated: 1/30/24