Prof. Fred Smith, Jr.

Fred O. Smith, Jr. is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he teaches and writes about federal courts, constitutional law, and remedies for government misconduct. Before joining Stanford, he was a professor at Emory University School of Law and, earlier, at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. He served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States in 2021. His scholarship, including "Local Sovereign Immunity" and "The Constitution After Death" in the Columbia Law Review and recent articles in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and UCLA Law Review, examines how courts can provide accountability when officials violate constitutional rights. He clerked for Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Barrington D. Parker, Jr. of the Second Circuit, and Judge Myron H. Thompson of the Middle District of Alabama. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School.