Chancellor Professor and John Marshall Professor of Government and Citizenship

Areas of Specialization

Constitutional Law; Constitutional Law – 1st Amendment (Speech and Press); Constitutional Law – 2nd Amendment; Constitutional Law – 14th Amendment

Teaching Interests

First Amendment; Second Amendment; Constitutional Law; Constitutional Theory

Representative Professional Activities and Achievements

Professor Zick graduated summa cum laude from Indiana University and summa cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Francis E. Lucey, S.J. Award for graduating first in his class. While at Georgetown, Professor Zick was a Notes and Comments editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. Following law school, Professor Zick was an associate with the law firms of Williams and Connolly in Washington, D.C., where he assisted in the defense of congressional term limits in the Supreme Court of the United States, and Foley Hoag in Boston. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Levin H. Campbell of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Professor Zick also served as a Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the United States Department of Justice, where he defended the constitutionality and legality of a variety of federal programs and statutes.

Professor Zick has written on a variety of constitutional issues, with a special focus on the First Amendment. He is the author of four university press books on the subject: Speech Out of Doors: Preserving First Amendment Liberties in Public Places (Cambridge U. Press 2009); The Cosmopolitan First Amendment: Protecting Transborder Expressive and Religious Liberties (Cambridge U. Press 2013); The Dynamic Free Speech Clause: Free Speech and Its Relation to Other Constitutional Rights (Oxford U. Press 2018); and The First Amendment in the Trump Era (Oxford U. Press 2019).

Professor Zick has been a frequent commentator in local, national, and international media regarding public protests and other First Amendment concerns. He testified before Congress on the Occupy Wall Street protests and rights of free speech, assembly, and petition. Professor Zick has been the recipient of the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence in 2011, 2013 and 2017.

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Publications from 2026

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Firearms and Fora: Constructing Public Carry Doctrine, Timothy Zick

(106 Boston University Law Review 101 (2026))

Publications from 2025

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New Threats to Campus Protest, Timothy Zick

(23 First Amendment Law Review 355-385 (2025))

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Public Protest and Civil Unrest, Timothy Zick

(67 Arizona Law Review 459-516 (2025))

Publications from 2024

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Public Protest and Government Immunities, Timothy Zick

(97 Southern California Law Review 1583-1649 (2024))

Publications from 2023

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Second Amendment Exceptionalism: Public Expression and Public Carry, Timothy Zick

(102 Texas Law Review 65-122 (2023))

Publications from 2021

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The Costs of Dissent: Protest and Civil Liabilities, Timothy Zick

(89 George Washington Law Review 233-297 (2021))

Publications from 2020

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Framing the Second Amendment: Gun Rights, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Timothy Zick

(106 Iowa Law Review 229-297 (2020))

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Free Speech Idealism, Timothy Zick

(55 Tulsa Law Review 303-309 (2020))

Publications from 2019

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The Second Amendment as a Fundamental Right, Timothy Zick

(46 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly 621-682 (2019))

Publications from 2018

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Arming Public Protests, Timothy Zick

(104 Iowa Law Review 223-285 (2018))

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Managing Dissent, Timothy Zick

(95 Washington University Law Review 1423-1457 (2018))

Publications from 2017

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Justice Scalia and Abortion Speech, Timothy Zick

(15 First Amendment Law Review 288-330 (2017))

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Protests in Peril, Timothy Zick

(U.S. News & World Report Weekly (November 20, 2017))

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Restroom Use, Civil Rights, and Free Speech "Opportunism", Timothy Zick

(78 Ohio State Law Journal 963-999 (2017))

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Rights Dynamism, Timothy Zick

(19 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 791-859 (2017))

Publications from 2016

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The Dynamic Relationship Between Freedom of Speech and Equality, Timothy Zick

(12 Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy 13-75 (2016))

Publications from 2015

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First Amendment Cosmopolitanism, Skepticism, and Democracy, Timothy Zick

(76 Ohio State Law Journal 705-727 (2015))

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Professional Rights Speech, Timothy Zick

(47 Arizona State Law Journal 1289-1360 (2015))

Publications from 2014

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Rights Speech, Timothy Zick

(48 University of California, Davis Law Review 1-71 (2014))

Publications from 2012

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Falsely Shouting Fire in a Global Theater: Emerging Complexities of Transborder Expression, Timothy Zick

(65 Vanderbilt Law Review 125-187 (2012))

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Recovering the Assembly Clause, Timothy Zick

(91 Texas Law Review 375-402 (2012))

Publications from 2011

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The First Amendment in Trans-Border Perspective: Toward a More Cosmopolitan Orientation, Timothy Zick

(52 Boston College Law Review 941-1025 (2011))

Publications from 2010

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Property As/And Constitutional Settlement, Timothy Zick

(104 Northwestern University Law Review 1361-1440 (2010))

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Summum, the Vocality of Public Places, and the Public Forum, Timothy Zick

(2010 Brigham Young University Law Review 2203-2242)

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Territoriality and the First Amendment: Free Speech At - And Beyond - Our Borders, Timothy Zick

(85 Notre Dame Law Review 1543-1628 (2010))

Publications from 2009

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Constitutional Displacement, Timothy Zick

(86 Washington University Law Review 515-608 (2009))

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"Duty-Defining Power" and the First Amendment's Civil Domain, Timothy Zick

(109 Columbia Law Review Sidebar 116-125 (2009))

Publications from 2007

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Active Sovereignty, Timothy Zick

(21 St. John's Journal of Law & Public Policy 541-573 (2007))

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Clouds, Cameras, and Computers: The First Amendment and Networked Public Places, Timothy Zick

(59 Florida Law Review 1-69 (2007))

Publications from 2006

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Property, Place, and Public Discourse, Timothy Zick

(21 Washington University Journal of Law and Policy 173-223 (2006))

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Space, Place, and Speech: The Expressive Topography, Timothy Zick

(74 George Washington Law Review 439-505 (2006))

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Speech and Spatial Tactics, Timothy Zick

(84 Texas Law Review 581-651 (2006))

Publications from 2005

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Are the States Sovereign?, Timothy Zick

(83 Washington University Law Quarterly 229-337 (2005))

Publications from 2003

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Constitutional Empiricism: Quasi-Neutral Principles and Constitutional Truths, Timothy Zick

(82 North Carolina Law Review 115-221 (2003))

Publications from 2002

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Marbury Ascendant: The Rehnquist Court and the Power to "Say What the Law Is", Timothy Zick

(59 Washington and Lee Law Review 839-917 (2002))

Publications from 2000

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Angry White Males: The Equal Protection Clause and "Classes of One", Timothy Zick

(89 Kentucky Law Journal 69-134 (2001))

Publications from 1999

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Congress, the Internet, and the Intractable Pornography Problem: The Child Online Protection Act of 1998, Timothy Zick

(32 Creighton Law Review 1147-1204 (1999))

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The Consent of the Governed: Recall of United States Senators, Timothy Zick

(103 Dickinson Law Review 567-611 (1999))

Publications from 1998

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Re-Defining Reproductive Freedom, Timothy Zick

(21 Harvard Women's Law Journal 327-339 (1998))

Publications from 1991

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Prisoners' Rights, Timothy Zick

(79 Georgetown Law Journal 1253-1295 (1991))

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Reporting Substantial Product Safety Hazards Under the Consumer Product Safety Act: The Products Liability Interface, Timothy Zick

(80 Georgetown Law Journal 387-412 (1991))