Otis H. Stephens

Alumni Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and Resident Scholar of Constitutional Law
A.B., 1957, M.A., 1958, University of Georgia
Ph.D., 1963, Johns Hopkins University
J.D., 1983, University of Tennessee

Advanced Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Supreme Court Decision Making, Administrative Law, and Public Policy and American Courts.

ostephen@utk.edu

Professor Stephens, a distinguished member of the University's political science faculty since 1967, became the College of Law's Resident Scholar of Constitutional Law in 2000. Professor Stephens has authored or co-authored five books on the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court and published numerous articles, book reviews, and professional papers. He held a post doctoral fellowship at Harvard Law School and, in addition to UT, has taught at Johns Hopkins University and Georgia Southern College.

Recent Publications

       Books, Chapters & Essays:

Presidential Power, Judicial Deference and the Status of Detainees in an Age of Terrorism, in American National Security and Civil Liberties in an Aera of Terrorism edited by David B. Cohen and John W. Wells, Palgrave, Macmillan (forthcoming 2004).

Biographical Essays on St. George Tucker and Benjamin N. Cardozo in Great American Judges: An Encyclopedia, edited by John R. Vile (ABC-CLIO 2003.

Equal Protestion of the Laws, Oxford Companion to American Law, edited by Kermit Hall, Oxford University Press, 2002, 265-68.

Co-author, American Constitutional Law (West Publishing Co., 1993, 2nd ed., West/Wadsworth, 1999) (3rd ed. 2003).

Co-author, American Constitutional Law: Essays and Cases (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988).

Co-author, The Supreme Court and the Allocation of Constitutional Power (W.H. Freeman Co., 1980).

The Supreme Court and Confessions of Guilt, (University of Tennessee Press, 1973).

       Articles:

Contributor to "Marbury v. Madison: 200 Years of Judicial Review in America," symposium, 70 Tenn. L. Rev. No. 4, 2003.

Co-author, Campus Hate Speech and Equal Protection: Competing Constitutional Values, 6 Widener J. Public L 349 (1997).

The Tennessee Constitution and the Dynamics of American Federalism, 61 Tenn. L. Rev. 707 (1994).

Patterns of Mitigating Factors in Juvenile Death Penalty Cases, 29 Crim. L. Bul. 246 (1992).

       Edited Work:

Guest editor, special issue on the Rehnquist Court, Southeastern Political Review 23: (September 1995), 379-556.

     Book Reviews:

A History of the Tennesee Supreme Court, edited by James E. Ely, Jr. (39 Tennessee Bar Journal 24 January, 2003).

Steven D. Smith, Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a Constitutional Principle, 6 Law and Politics Book Review 20 (1996).

Recent Professional Presentations and Service

Overview of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2002-2003 Term, presentation at the annual meeting of the American Blind Lawyers Association, Pittsburgh, Pa., July 6, 2003.

Presentation on the U.S. Supreme Court's development of First Amendment standards governing commercial speech, Advertising and Law Conference, University of Tennessee, October 18, 2002 (co-sponsored by the College of Law and the College of Communication and Information Sciences).

Program participant in Marbury v. Madison Symposium, University of Tennessee College of Law, February 21, 2003.

"Hate Speech and the First Amendment: Implications for the University," American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., September 1993.

"State Action and the Rehnquist Court," American Political Science Association, Washington, DC, August 1991.

"Mitigating Factors in Juvenile Death Penalty Cases," Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Denver, 1990.

"The Rehnquist Court," Panel Chair, Southern Political Science Association, Atlanta, 1992.

"The Distinctive Contribution of Carl Brent Swisher," Panel Chair, American Political Science Association, Washington, DC, 1991.

Selected Achievements and Affiliations

University of Tennessee Macebearer, 2001-02.

Recipient of 2001 Migel Medal presented by the American Foundation for the Blind.

L.R. Hesler Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service, University of Tennessee, 1998-99.

Library Friends Outstanding Service Award, University of Tennessee, 1998.

Spring Commencement Speaker, University of Tennessee, 1994.

Golden Key Honor Society, University of Tennessee, 1991.

Chair, Editorial Committee reviewing A History of the American Council of the Blind, history published and project completed 2003.

Member, American Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Knoxville Bar Association.

Member, American Political Science Association.

Member, American Association of University Professors.

Works in Progress

Co-editor of the Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Civil Rights and Liberties, Greenwood Publishing Group (forthcoming 2005).

Book, Unreasonable Searches and Seizures: Rights and Liberties Under the Law in America's Freedom's Series, ABC-CLIO (forthcoming 2004).

Article, The Rehnquist Court: Changing Contours of American Federalism.

Editor-in-Chief coordinating preparation of A History of the Georgia Academy for the Blind.

September 18, 2003