Douglas Laycock
Douglas Laycock is perhaps the nation’s leading authority on the law of religious liberty and also on the law of remedies. He has taught and written about these topics for more than four decades at the University of Chicago, the University of Texas, the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia. He retired from teaching at UVA Law School in May 2023.
Laycock has testified frequently before Congress and has argued many cases in the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, where he has served as lead counsel in six cases and has also filed influential amicus briefs. He is the author (co-author in the most recent edition) of the leading casebook Modern American Remedies, the award-winning monograph The Death of the Irreparable Injury Rule and many articles in leading law reviews. He co-edited a collection of essays, Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty.
His many writings on religious liberty have been republished in a five-volume collection:
- Religious Liberty Volume One: Overviews and History
- Religious Liberty Volume Two: The Free Exercise Clause
- Religious Liberty Volume Three: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, Same-Sex Marriage Legislation, and the Culture Wars
- Religious Liberty Volume Four: Federal Legislation After the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, with More on the Culture Wars
- Religious Liberty Volume Five: The Free Speech and Establishment Clauses
Laycock resigned from the council and as first vice president of the American Law Institute to become co-reporter for the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Remedies. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He earned his B.A. from Michigan State University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.
Scholarship Profile: "A Towering Figure" (Virginia Journal 2011)
Forthcoming
Works in Progress
Books
Textbooks
Book Chapters
Articles & Reviews
Reports & Datasets
Op-Eds, Blogs, Shorter Works
- Bill of Rights
- Church and state
- Damages
- Declaratory Judgments
- First Amendment
- Injunctions
- Remedies
- Religion and law
- Restitution
- Supreme Court
- Tort reform
- Vouchers (school)
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At its meeting on January 19 and 20, 2023 the Council approved Council Draft No. 2, containing §§ 5, 11, and 12 of Topic 1, General Rules for...