Killenbeck Returns to Supreme Court for Overview of Its Most Important Case

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Mark Killenbeck, Wylie H. Davis Distinguished Professor of Law

Mark Killenbeck, professor in the University of Arkansas School of Law, will return to the United States Supreme Court to present a historical overview of M'Culloch v. Maryland, decided in 1819 and considered by many to be the most important case in the history of the Supreme Court. Killenbeck’s overview will precede the 2014 Frank C. Jones Reenactment of M'Culloch v. Maryland, presented by the Supreme Court Historical Society in the Chamber of the Supreme Court on Thursday, Oct. 9.

His invitation to present on Oct. 9 follows closely after the publication of his “A Prudent Regard to Our Own Good? The Commerce Clause, in Nation and States,” which was the lead article in the Journal of Supreme Court History Winter 2013 issue. That article was based on another lecture he presented at the Court Chamber of the Supreme Court that addressed the issue at the heart of the Affordable Care Act debate – the Commerce Clause. His lecture on the Commerce Clause was attended by Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, with Sotomayor giving his introduction.

“We are delighted professor Killenbeck has been invited to present at the Supreme Court again,” said Stacy Leeds, dean of the School of Law. “Thursday’s lecture is the latest of many examples of his preeminence in the scholarship and service of constitutional law.”

Killenbeck, the Wylie H. Davis Distinguished Professor of Law, has written extensively in both articles and in the first book ever published devoted exclusively to the case, M’Culloch v. Maryland: Securing a Nation.  He is the author of numerous books, chapters, articles, and papers, with a special focus on federalism, American constitutional history, and affirmative action and diversity. His articles have appeared in a number of major national law journals, including the Supreme Court Review, California Law Review,Michigan Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, and Hastings Law Journal. His assessment of the Supreme Court’s 2003 affirmative action decisions, Affirmative Action and Diversity: The Beginning of the End? Or the End of the Beginning?, was published in 2004 by the Educational Testing Service in their Policy Information Perspective series. He has also contributed chapters to a number of works, including The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions, the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Social Consciousness in Legal Decision Making: Psychological Perspectives.

Killenbeck, an elected member of the American Law Institute, was the first individual in the history of the School of Law so elected while serving on the faculty.