Law School Events
[PAST EVENT] 2019 Cutler Lecture: "Why Marriage Equality Prevailed—and Lessons for Other Social Movements"
Professor William N. Eskridge, Jr., of Yale Law School will present William & Mary's 2019 Cutler Lecture titled “Why Marriage Equality Prevailed—and Lessons for Other Social Movements.”
About Professor Eskridge
Professor William N. Eskridge, Jr. is the John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School.
Born and raised in Princeton, West Virginia, Professor Eskridge received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Davidson College in 1973 and his Master’s degree in History from Harvard University in 1974. At Harvard, his primary Master’s thesis analyzed the political thought of the Marian exiles (1553-58). Professor Eskridge earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was the Note & Topics Editor of The Yale Law Journal (1977-78). After clerking for Judge Edward Weinfeld and practicing law at Shea & Gardner, he became a law professor. His primary academic homes have been the Georgetown University Law Center (1987-98) and the Yale Law School (1998-present), but Professor Eskridge has also taught at NYU, Stanford, Toronto, Harvard, Columbia, Virginia, and Vanderbilt. His primary legal academic interest has been statutory interpretation. Together, Professor Eskridge and Professor Philip Frickey (a friend from Shea & Gardner) developed an innovative casebook on Legislation. Professor Eskridge has also published a monograph and several dozen law review articles (many with Frickey) on statutory interpretation theory and practice. Professors Eskridge and Frickey's project has been to understand the dynamics of statutory evolution and the proper methodology judges should apply when construing statutes. In 1990-95, Professor Eskridge represented a gay couple suing for recognition of their same-sex marriage. Since then, he has published a field-establishing casebook, three monographs, and dozens of law review articles articulating a legal and political framework for proper state treatment of sexual and gender minorities. The historical materials in his book on Gaylaw formed the basis for an amicus brief he drafted for the Cato Institute and for much of the Court’s (and the dissenting opinion’s) analysis in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which invalidated consensual sodomy laws.
For his complete biography, please visit the Yale Law School website.
The Cutler Lecture series was established in 1927 by James Gould Cutler of Rochester, NY, to provide an annual lecture at William & Mary by “an outstanding authority on the Constitution of the United States.” The original series of sixteen lectures were held from 1928 to 1944. After a period of dormancy the Cutler lectures were revived in 1980-81 under the auspices of the Law School, with each lecture published in the William & Mary Law Review.