Cynthia L. Nicoletti

  • Professor of Law
  • Professor of History

Cynthia Nicoletti is a legal historian and professor of law at Virginia Law. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the William Nelson Cromwell Prize for the best dissertation in legal history, awarded by the American Society for Legal History in 2011. Her book, Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis, won the 2018 Cromwell Book Prize, given by the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation each year for excellence in scholarship to an early career scholar working in the field of American legal history.

Education

  • J.D.
    Harvard Law School
    2003
  • Ph.D.
    University of Virginia
    2010
  • M.A.
    University of Virginia
    2004
  • B.A.
    University of Virginia
    1999

Books

Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis, Cambridge University Press (2017).

Book Chapters

Strategic Litigation and the Death of Reconstruction, in Signposts: New Directions in Southern Legal History, University of Georgia Press, 265 (2013).

Articles & Reviews

William Henry Trescot, Pardon Broker, 11 The Journal of the Civil War Era 478–506 (2021).
Book Review (reviewing Rebecca Zietlow, The Forgotten Emancipator: James Mitchell Ashley and the Ideological Origins of Reconstruction) 38 Law & History Review 299–301 (2020).
The Rise and Fall of Transcendent Constitutionalism in the Civil War Era, 106 Virginia Law Review 1631–1702 (2020).
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase and the Permanency of the Union, 44 Journal of Supreme Court History 154–169 (2019).
Review of Pratt, Sowing the Wind (reviewing Dorothy Overstreet Pratt, Sowing the Wind: The Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890) 85 Journal of Southern History 476–477 (2019).
Writing the Social History of Legal Doctrine, 64 Buffalo Law Review 121–140 (2016).
Review of William A. Blair, With Malice Toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era (reviewing William A. Blair, With Malice Toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era) 5 Journal of the Civil War Era 330–332 (2015).
Did Secession Really Die at Appomattox: The Strange Case of U.S. v. Jefferson Davis, 41 University of Toledo Law Review 587–637 (2010).
The American Civil War as a Trial by Battle, 28 Law & History Review 71–110 (2010).

Op-Eds, Blogs, Shorter Works

Why Can’t We Take Secession Seriously?, Balkinization (January 5, 2023).
Historical Path Dependency and Secession, Balkinization (May 16, 2020).

IN THE NEWS

03/23/2023
The Chatter Podcast: Treason, Secession, and Accountability with Cynthia Nicoletti (Chatter)
10/10/2022
U.S. States That Wish To Join Russia Will Be Considered, Says Duma Member (Newsweek)
07/19/2022
Congratulations to the Winner of The Journal of the Civil War Era’s George and Ann Richards Prize (The Journal of the Civil War Era)
05/09/2022
Reconstruction I: Secession on Trial (HISTORY This Week)
10/22/2021
Bye, Maryland? Lawmakers in 3 Counties Float a Plan to Secede From the State. (The New York Times)
01/14/2021
Reconstruction Offers No Easy Answers for How to Handle the Trump Insurgency (Slate)
05/16/2020
Historical Path Dependency and Secession (Balkinization)
04/09/2020
Putting Secession and Jefferson Davis on Trial With Cynthia Nicoletti (Washington’s Library)
02/09/2020
West Virginia Republicans Encourage Conservative Virginia Counties to ‘Vexit’ (CNN)
07/31/2019
Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis (New Books Network)
12/17/2018
Historians Explain the Motivations Behind Their Award-Winning Writings (UVA Today)
05/01/2017
The Trial of the Century That Wasn’t (Smithsonian Magazine)
11/16/2016
It Would Be Incredibly Difficult for California to Pull Off a 'Calexit' and Secede From the US (Business Insider)
01/31/2016
Murder Was the Case (BackStory)

AT UVA LAW

Accolades: Professor Wins Scribes Book Award
Accolades: UVA Law No. 2 in Employment Outcomes
Accolades: Professor’s Paper on Algorithmic Decision-Making Wins Award
Professor Honored With UVA Student Council Distinguished Teaching Award
‘Common Law’ S2 E3: The Road Not Taken After the Civil War
Why Land Redistribution to Former Slaves Unraveled After the Civil War
‘Secession on Trial’ During the Prosecution of Jefferson Davis
‘Secession on Trial,’ With Cynthia Nicoletti
Professor Cynthia Nicoletti Wins Cromwell Book Prize
Cynthia Nicoletti Examines Chief Justice's Role in Davis' Treason Trial
Was Secession Legal?
Cynthia Nicoletti Discusses Her Book, "Secession on Trial"
Law Alums Find a Historical Template for Success With J.D.-M.A.
6 Questions with Professor Cynthia Nicoletti
Legal Historian Cynthia Nicoletti to Join UVA Law Faculty
The Road Not Taken After the Civil War

Featured Scholarship