Faculty - University of Virginia School of Law

CONTACT
jjeffries@virginia.edu
(434) 924-3436
Room WB179E

ASSISTANT
Karen Bennett

SUBJECTS
Criminal law, constitutional law, federal courts, civil rights, civil procedure, First Amendment, Supreme Court

John C. Jeffries, Jr.

David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law
J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1973
B.A., Yale University, 1970

John Jeffries joined the Virginia law faculty two years after earning his law degree in 1973. His primary research and teaching interests are civil rights, federal courts, criminal law and constitutional law. Jeffries has co-authored casebooks in civil rights, federal courts and criminal law and has published a variety of articles in those fields. He also wrote a biography of Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

In 1986, Jeffries was appointed the inaugural Emerson Spies Professor of Law, a position created to honor a long-time teacher and former dean. Jeffries has also held a variety of other academic appointments, including the Arnold H. Leon Professorship. He served as academic associate dean from 1994 to 1999. In the fall semester of 1999, he was acting dean during the sabbatical of Dean Robert Scott. He became dean in the fall of 2001 and served until June 2008.

During law school, Jeffries served as editor-in-chief of the Virginia Law Review. He received the Z Award for the highest academic average and the Woods Prize for the outstanding graduate. Immediately after graduation, he clerked for Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., before serving in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant.

Publications
Current Courses

All Courses

Civil Rights Litigation
Constitutional Law
Criminal Law
Seminar in Ethical Values

In the Media

"Justices' Gay Clerks Provide Evidence of Change" (The Boston Globe, 06/09/2013)
"Exhibit A for a Major Shift: Justices' Gay Clerks" (The New York Times, 06/08/2013)
"Court May Limit Use of Race in College Admissions Decisions" (Reuters, 04/28/2013)
"High Court Squashed Regional School Merger" (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 03/11/2013)
Jerry Smith’s Obama Rebuke Questioned by Legal Experts (Yahoo! News, 04/04/2012)
"Challenges to Health Care Law Get Appellate Hearing Tuesday" (USA Today, 05/06/2011)
"Justice Unbound" (The New York Times, 12/02/2010)
"Uncertainty for High Court in Wake of Ginsburg Health News" (Legal Times, 02/09/2009)
"Dean's List: Jeffries Looks Forward to Teaching" (The Hook, 01/03/2008)
"Questions for Obama" (Washington Post, 09/30/2007)
"UC Irvine Aborts Hiring Chemerinsky as Law School Dean" (Los Angeles Times, 09/13/2007)
"Calif. Law School Dumps Chemerinsky as Founding Dean" (Law.com, 09/13/2007)
"State Briefs: News Near You" (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 09/07/2007)
"UVA Dean to Step Down/Jeffries to Go Back to Teaching Following Sabbatical" (Charlottesville Daily Progress, 09/06/2007)
"The UVA Law School Celebrates a Banner Year for Gifts" (WINA 1070 AM, 07/31/2007)
"Bad Heir Day/How Sandra Day O'Connor Became the Least Powerful Jurist in America" (Slate, 07/09/2007)
"National War Powers Commission, Checkpoint Charlie Memorial, Jewish Film Festival..." (Metro NC, 05/02/2007)
"Duke Law School Names New Dean/David Levi Now Is Chief U.S. District Judge in California" ((Durham) NC Herald-Sun, 01/04/2007)
"A Fair Argument" (Lynchburg News & Advance. , 03/19/2006)
"Politics Colors Confirmation/Nominee Gets Ready for Intense Grilling by Democrats" (The Houston Chronicle , 09/11/2005)
"The Rehnquist Legacy: 33 Years Turning Back the Court/Chief Justice Came to Recognize Limits On His Power to Fight Liberal Drift" (The Washington Post, 09/05/2005)
"Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies" (The Washington Post/Canton (Ohio) Repository, 09/04/2005)
"Judging Roberts; He's Conservative, But Apolitical; Confident, Not Cocky" (Newsweek, 08/01/2005)
"Incremental Change on the Court/Bottoms Up" (The New Republic, 07/21/2005)
"Counter Evolution" (The New Republic, 07/05/2005)
"In List of Potential Justices, Many Kinds of Conservative" (The New York Times , 07/02/2005)
"The Court's First Woman Often Had the Final Say" (The Houston Chronicle, 07/02/2005)
"Law Educators Speak about O'Connor Legacy" (The Virginian-Pilot, 07/02/2005)
"Supreme Court Actions Seen Curbing Bush Agenda" (NPR "Morning Edition", 07/05/2004)
"Star Power: Top Law Professors Are a Hot Commodity, and Schools Are Scrambling to Keep Them" (National Law Journal, 06/14/2004)
"Supreme Court Turnover Likely/The Next President May Fill Several Vacancies, Experts Say" (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 04/24/2004)
"Virginia Tech's Top 30 Ambitions Hurt—School Slides Again in Rankings" (Roanoke Times & World News, 04/02/2004)
"Papers of Roe-Wade Author to Be Released" (The Los Angeles Times, 02/29/2004)
"Analysis: Justices Wrap Up Term with Major Rulings" (NPR, "Morning Edition", 07/03/2003)
"Court's Ruling Bows to History; O'Connor's View Resembles Powell's in Bakke Case" (Detroit News, June 24, 2003) (Detroit News, 06/24/2003)