Law School’s Journal of Constitutional Law among country’s most cited and impactful legal journals
In honor of Constitution Day, we are highlighting the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Journal of Constitutional Law (JCL), a forum for the academic advancement and interdisciplinary study of constitutional law. As one of only six non-law review publications ranked in the top 50 legal journals nationwide for the most citations and impact, JCL has emerged as one of the foremost publications in the area of constitutional legal analysis and discourse.
As part of its mission, “JCL cultivates innovative scholarship, promotes critical perspectives, and reinvents the traditional study of constitutional law.” Many of the country’s leading legal scholars have published works in JCL, including Penn ’s Kenneth W. Gemmill Professor of Law Seth Kreimer, Professor of Law Kermit Roosevelt, and Senior Fellow David Rudovsky. Other esteemed contributors include the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, the Honorable Guido Calabresi, the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg, Richard Epstein, Laurence Tribe, Erwin Chemerinsky, Marci Hamilton L’88, Barry Cushman, Sandy Levinson, Martin Redish C’67, Mark Tushnet, and Jerry Mashaw.
In addition to committing to publishing five issues annually, including Fall and Spring online supplements to the print edition, JCL also sponsors a yearly symposium on a cutting-edge topic of constitutional law and featuring notable constitutional law scholars.
The Volume 21 Symposium, “Tinker at 50: Student Activism on Campus,” was held in January 2019. The event featured a Keynote Address by Mary Beth Tinker, the free speech activist who was at the center of the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District in which the Court ruled that Tinker’s school couldn’t punish her for wearing a black armband in support of a Vietnam War truce.
The symposium featured three panel discussions: “Tinker, its Progeny, and its Modern-Day Applications”; “Open Expression at Public and Private Universities”; and “Protest vs. Speech: When Does Protest Infringe on Other Students’ Free Speech?”
The Volume 22 Symposium, “Constitutional Law Outside the Courts,” was originally scheduled for the Spring of 2020 but was postponed because of COVID-19 pandemic precautions.
JCL is one of the Law School’s seven journals, which provide student members an invaluable experience in substantive law as well as skills in research, analysis, and expression.
Read more about all of the Law School’s journals.
