W. Taylor Reveley III Research Professor and Arthur B. Hanson Professor of Law
Areas of Specialization
Family Law; Children and the Law; Trusts & Estates; International Law; Adoption Law; Education Law; Philosophy of Law; Constitutional Law--14th Amendment; Constitutional Law--1st Amendment (Religion)
Representative Professional Activities and Achievements
Joined the faculty in 2000 after teaching law at the Chicago-Kent and University of Wyoming law schools. Practiced law with Sutherland, Asbill, and Brennan; and Coudert Brothers; both in Washington, D.C., and worked in New York State Family Court as Law Guardian. Teaches family law, youth law, trusts and estates, and law and social justice. Selected for the Class of 2010 Professorship and three times for the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence. Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, Fall 2019. Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2025 in recognition of his scholarship on children's rights.
Publications from 2025
Clarifying Parens Patriae, James G. Dwyer
(30 Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 339-378 (2025))Guardrails Needed for Social Science Research, James G. Dwyer
(35 Research on Social Work Practice 119-120 (2025))Mired in Meyer's Mischief A Century After Fabrication of Constitutional Parents' Rights, James G. Dwyer
(26 Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues 107-146 (2025))The Kincare Craze in Child Protection: Romanticism, Subterfuge, and Racial Separatism, James G. Dwyer
(19 Florida International University Law Review 1-69 (2025))Publications from 2024
The Real Wrongs of ICWA, James G. Dwyer
(69 Villanova Law Review 1-53 (2024))Publications from 2023
Faux Advocacy in Amicus Practice, James G. Dwyer
(50 Pepperdine Law Review 633-671 (2023))Publications from 2022
Smith's Last Stand? Free Exercise and Foster Care Exceptionalism, James G. Dwyer
(24 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 856-906 (2022))The Most Dangerous Branch of Science? Reining in Rogue Research and Reckless Experimentation in Social Services, James G. Dwyer
(87 Missouri Law Review 1-94 (2022))Publications from 2020
Verified Amended Complaint by Next Friend James Dwyer Against Defendants Norfolk Department of Human Services (NDHS), James G. Dwyer
(United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia - Norfolk Division)Homeschooling: A Response to Ahlberg, Howell, and Justice, James G. Dwyer and Shawn F. Peters
(18 Theory and Research in Education 256-259 (2020))Publications from 2016
Religious Schooling and Homeschooling Before and After Hobby Lobby, James G. Dwyer
(2016 University of Illinois Law Review 1393-1415)Publications from 2015
Book Review of The Child Cases: How America's Religious Exemption Laws Harm Children, James G. Dwyer
(57 Journal of Church and State 392-394 (2015))Same-Sex Cynicism and the Self-Defeating Pursuit of Social Acceptance Through Litigation, James G. Dwyer
(68 SMU Law Review 3-71 (2015))Publications from 2014
Jailing Black Babies, James G. Dwyer
(2014 Utah Law Review 465-541)Publications from 2013
Adopted Couple v. Baby Girl: Erasing the Last Vestigates of Human Property, James G. Dwyer
(93 Boston University Law Review Annex 51-54 (2013))Equality Between Adults and Children: Its Meaning, Implications, and Opposition, James G. Dwyer
(2013 Michigan State Law Review 1007-1028)Inter-country Adoption and the Special Rights Fallacy, James G. Dwyer
(35 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 189-267 (2014))Misused Concepts and Misguided Questions: Fundamental Confusions in Family Law Debates, James G. Dwyer
(4 International Journal of the Jurisprudence of the Family 239-258 (2013))No Accounting for School Vouchers, James G. Dwyer
(48 Wake Forest L. Rev. 361-395 (2013))Promising Protection: 911 Call Records as Foundation for Family Violence Intervention, James G. Dwyer
(102 Kentucky Law Journal 49-101 (2014))Publications from 2012
Parents' Self-Determination and Children's Custody: A New Analytical Framework for State Structuring of Children's Family Life, James G. Dwyer
(54 Arizona Law Review 79-136 (2012))The Parental Choice Fallacy in Education Reform Debates, James G. Dwyer
(87 Notre Dame Law Review 1837-1859 (2012))Publications from 2011
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Employment Division v. Smith for Family Law, James G. Dwyer
(32 Cardozo Law Review 1781-1790 (2011)) (62 Alabama Law Review 887-959 (2011))Publications from 2010
Parental Entitlement and Corporal Punishment, James G. Dwyer
(73 Law and Contemporary Problems 189-210 (2010))Publications from 2009
Constitutional Birthright: The State, Parentage, and the Rights of Newborn Persons, James G. Dwyer
(56 UCLA Law Review 755-835 (2009))First Parents: Reconceptualizing Newborn Adoption, James G. Dwyer
(37 Capital University Law Review 293-320 (2009))Publications from 2008
Book Review of The Best Interests of the Child in Healthcare, James G. Dwyer
(18 Law & Politics Book Review 605-609 (2008))The Child Protection Pretense: States' Continued Consignment of Newborn Babies to Unfit Parents, James G. Dwyer
(93 Minnesota Law Review 407-492 (2008))Publications from 2005
The Liberal State's Response to Religious Visions of Education, James G. Dwyer
(44 Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 195-231 (2005))Publications from 2004
School Accountability and ‘High Stakes’ Testing, James G. Dwyer
(2 Theory and Research in Education 211-217 (2004))Publications from 2003
Funding Religion in a Post-Zelman World, James G. Dwyer
(5 Government, Law, and Policy Journal 11-15 (Winter/Spring 2003))Publications from 2000
Spiritual Treatment Exemptions to Child Medical Neglect Laws: What We Outsiders Should Think, James G. Dwyer
(76 Notre Dame Law Review 147-177 (2000))Publications from 1997
Setting Standards for Parenting - By What Right?, James G. Dwyer
(27 Child Psychiatry and Human Development 165-177 (1997))Publications from 1996
(74 North Carolina Law Review 1321-1478 (1996))Publications from 1994
Parents' Religion and Children's Welfare: Debunking the Doctrine of Parents' Rights, James G. Dwyer
(82 California Law Review 1371-1447 (1994))Publications from 1987
Taking Evidence and Breaking Treaties: Aerospatiale and the Need for Common Sense, James G. Dwyer and Lois A. Yurow
(21 George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics 439-478 (1987))