Richard M. Re

  • Joel B. Piassick Research Professor of Law

Richard M. Re’s primary research and teaching interests are in criminal procedure, federal courts and constitutional law. He joined Virginia’s faculty in 2020 after serving on the faculty of the UCLA School of Law.

Re’s 2016 article, “Narrowing Supreme Court Precedent From Below” received the annual prize from the AALS Federal Courts Section for the best paper on federal courts by an untenured professor. In 2017, the law school's graduating class selected Re as Professor of the Year. And during the oral argument in Hughes v. United States (2018), the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court discussed Re’s amicus brief criticizing the Marks rule. Re’s work has appeared or been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and elsewhere.

Re earned an A.B. in social studies from Harvard University and an M.Phil. in political thought and intellectual history from the University of Cambridge. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, Re clerked for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States. Re also worked as an Honors Program attorney in the Criminal Appellate Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and practiced law at a firm in Washington, D.C.

Re is also a member of PrawfsBlawg and maintains his own blog, Re’s Judicata.

Education

  • J.D.
    Yale Law School
    2008
  • M.Phil.
    University of Cambridge
    2005
  • A.B.
    Harvard University
    2004

Forthcoming

Permissive Interpretation, University of Pennsylvania Law Review (2023).
Should Gradualism Have Prevailed in Dobbs?, in Roe v. Dobbs (2023).

Articles & Reviews

Personal Precedent at the Supreme Court, 136 Harvard Law Review 824–860 (2023).
The Peril and Promise of SCOTUS Resignations, 107 Iowa Law Review Online 117–135 (2022).
Reason and Rhetoric in Edwards v. Vannoy, 17 Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy 63–98 (2022).
Precedent as Permission, 99 Texas Law Review 907–949 (2021).
Beyond the Marks Rule, 132 Harvard Law Review 1942–2008 (2019).
Clarity Doctrines, 86 University of Chicago Law Review 1497–1562 (2019).
Developing Artificially Intelligent Justice (with Alicia Solow-Niederman), 22 Stanford Technology Law Review 242–289 (2019).
Second Thoughts on 'One Last Chance'?, 66 UCLA Law Review 634–653 (2019).
Fourth Amendment Fairness, 116 Michigan Law Review 1409–1463 (2018).
Equal Right to the Poor, 84 University of Chicago Law Review 1149–1216 (2017).
Explaining SCOTUS Repeaters, 69 Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc 297–324 (2016).
Foreword - Imagining the Legal Landscape: Technology and the Law in 2030 (with Jennifer L. Mnookin), 64 UCLA Law Review Discourse i-ii (2016).
Imagining Perfect Surveillance, 64 UCLA Law Review Discourse 264–292 (2016).
Narrowing Supreme Court Precedent from Below, 104 Georgetown Law Journal 921–971 (2016).
Promising the Constitution, 110 Northwestern University Law Review 299–355 (2016).
The Positive Law Floor, 129 Harvard Law Review Forum 313–337 (2016).
The New Holy Trinity, 18 The Green Bag Second Series 407–421 (2015).
Narrowing Precedent in the Supreme Court, 114 Columbia Law Review 1861–1911 (2014).
Relative Standing, 102 Georgetown Law Journal 1191–1250 (2014).
Should Chevron Have Two Steps?, 89 Indiana Law Journal 605–642 (2014).
The Doctrine of One Last Chance, 17 The Green Bag Second Series 173–185 (2014).
The Due Process Exclusionary Rule, 127 Harvard Law Review 1885–1966 (2014).
On "A Ticket Good for One Day Only", 16 The Green Bag Second Series 155–166 (2013).
Voting and Vice: Criminal Disenfranchisement and the Reconstruction Amendments (with Christopher M. Re), 121 Yale Law Journal 1584–1670 (2012).
Can Congress Overturn Graham v. Florida?, 34 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 367–375 (2011).
Jury Poker: A Statistical Analysis of the Fair Cross-Section Requirement, 8 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 533–551 (2011).
Can Congress Overturn Kennedy v. Louisiana? , 33 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 1031–1105 (2010).
Comment, Remedying the Fourth Amendment's Reasonable Manner Requirement, United States v. Ankeny, 117 Yale Law Journal 723–733 (2008).
Note, Re-Justifying the Fair Cross-Section Requirement: Representation and Enfranchisement in the American Criminal Jury, 116 Yale Law Journal 1568–1614 (2007).

Op-Eds, Blogs, Shorter Works

Judges Are Now Using Their Retirements as Leverage Against the President, Slate (August 18, 2022).
Here’s a way for Justice Jackson to reform the Supreme Court on her first day, Boston Globe (April 28, 2022).
Brief of Professor Richard M. Re as Amicus Curiae in Support of Neither Party, Hughes v. United States.

Current Courses

Advanced Topics in Federal Courts Seminar
Criminal Procedure Survey
Sports and Games

All Courses

Constitutional Criminal Procedure
Federal Courts
Dissenting Opinions
Privacy and Power in the Digital Age

IN THE NEWS

05/30/2023
Reason, Rhetoric, and Ethic at the Friendly Medal Ceremony (Re’s Judicata)
05/19/2023
Kagan, Sotomayor Trade Rare Barbs in Warhol High Court Case (Bloomberg Law)
04/20/2023
2023 Originalism Symposium Panel #2: What Does the Fourth Amendment Require? (The Federalist Society at UVA Law)
12/01/2022
Did the Court Have Jurisdiction in Dobbs? (Re’s Judicata)
11/28/2022
Using Sports To Teach Law (WVTF Radio)
08/28/2022
White House Faces Legal Questions With Student Loan Forgiveness Plan (The Hill)
08/18/2022
Judges Are Now Using Their Retirements as Leverage Against the President (Slate)
08/17/2022
We’re All Textualists Now… When It Suits Us (Re’s Judicata)
07/06/2022
Overruling by Ignoring (Re’s Judicata)
05/13/2022
Move to Scrap Roe Opens Justices to ‘Politicians in Robes’ Label (Bloomberg Law)
04/28/2022
Here’s a Way for Justice Jackson To Reform the Supreme Court on Her First Day (The Boston Globe)
04/04/2022
The Problem of ‘Personal Precedents’ of Supreme Court Justices (The New York Times)
03/18/2022
Does Textualism Defeat the Major Questions Doctrine? (Re’s Judicata)
03/17/2022
Is Justice Kagan Done With Stare Decisis? (Re’s Judicata)
03/14/2022
Did US v Zubaydah Create Precedent? (Re’s Judicata)
02/01/2022
Judicial Opinion Barbs Reflect Political Divisions, Twitter Era (Bloomberg Law)
01/14/2022
Did the Supreme Court Overrule Equity? (Re’s Judicata)
12/14/2021
Should Justice Thomas Find Jurisdiction in Dobbs? (Re’s Judicata)
12/13/2021
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument Webinar: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (The Federalist Society)
12/08/2021
Hard-line Advocacy in Dobbs—and Casey (Re’s Judicata)
12/02/2021
Good Reasons to Go Slow on Abortion Precedents (The Wall Street Journal)
11/29/2021
Who’s Afraid of Gradualism in Dobbs? (Re’s Judicata)
11/18/2021
Courthouse Steps Pre-Argument Webinar: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (The Federalist Society)
11/11/2021
Do the Justices Have Permission to Deny Review? (Re’s Judicata)
10/13/2021
Should Court Reformers Attack the Idea of Law? (Re’s Judicata)
09/27/2021
Must SCOTUS Injunctions Abide By Precedent? (Re’s Judicata)
07/22/2021
A Rule Against Fun (Jotwell)
08/31/2020
Supreme Court’s Split Decision for Abortion Rights Gives Opponents an Unlikely Boost (USA Today)
09/17/2018
The Threat to Roe v. Wade in the Case of the Missing Precedent (The New York Times)
07/09/2018
A More Conservative Supreme Court Could Step, Not Lurch, to the Right (The Washington Post)

AT UVA LAW

Sports, Games ... and Law? New Course Gives Prospective Lawyers a Fresh Take
Should I Consider Being a Law Professor?
New York Times Explores Richard Re’s Article on ‘Personal Precedent at the Supreme Court’
UVA Law Adds 17 High-Profile Academics. Twitter Hollers Back.
Federal Courts, Criminal Procedure Expert Richard Re To Join Faculty
Should I Consider Being a Law Professor?

Featured Scholarship