Howard M. Wasserman

Biography

Howard M. Wasserman joined the College of Law faculty in 2003. Professor Wasserman teaches civil procedure, evidence, federal courts, civil rights, and First Amendment; he writes about the freedom of speech, the role of procedure and jurisdiction in public-law and civil-rights litigation, and recently on baseball’s Infield Fly Rule. He blogs at PrawfsBlawg, is the Section Editor for the Courts Law Section of JOTWELL, and is a Contributor at SCOTUSBlog. Professor Wasserman graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was an associate articles editor of the Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif. Following law school, he clerked for Chief Judge James T. Giles of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Judge Jane R. Roth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He has been a visiting professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and Florida State University College of Law. Professor Wasserman is a loyal Chicago Cubs fan.

Books

• Understanding Civil Rights Litigation (Carolina Academic Press) (3d ed. forthcoming 2023) (2d ed. 2018) (1st ed. 2013 Lexis Nexis)

• Painting Constitutional Law: Xavier Cortada’s Images of Constitutional Rights(M.C. Mirow & Howard M. Wasserman eds., Brill 2021)

• Infield Fly Rule is in Effect: The History and Strategy of Baseball’s Most (In)Famous Rule (McFarland Press 2019)

Articles and Chapters

• Constitutional Nullification, Modern Constitutional Torts, and Exclusive Private Enforcement. 60 Ga. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2026)
• Revisiting Catalyzing Fans: How Dan Markel Predicted the Future of College Athletics, 52 Fla. St. L. Rev. 569 (2025) (with Michael McCann)
• Introduction to Perspectives on the International Criminal Court and International Criminal Law and Procedure: A Symposium in Memory of Megan Fairlie, 19 FIU L. Rev. 483 (2025)
• 303 Creative, Exclusive Private Enforcement, and Blue State Revenge, 51 J. Legis. 93 (2025) (with Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes)
• Judicial Process and Vigilante Federalism, 108 Cornell L. Rev. Online 125 (2023) (with Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes)
• Solving the Procedural Puzzles of the Texas Heartbeat Act and its Imitators: New York Times v. Sullivan as Historical Analogue, 60 Hous. L. Rev. 93 (2022) (with Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes)
• Solving the Procedural Puzzles of the Texas Heartbeat Act and its Imitators: The Potential for Defensive Litigation, 75 SMU L. Rev. 187 (2022) (with Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes)
• Solving the Procedural Puzzles of the Texas Heartbeat Act and its Imitators: The Limits and Opportunities of Offensive Litigation, 71 Am. U. L. Rev. 1029 (2022) (with Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes)
• Civil Procedure in the Chief Justice’s Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, 51 Stetson L. Rev. 317 (2022)
• Zombie Laws, 25 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 1047 (2022)
• A Court with No Names: Anonymity and Celebrity on the Kardashian Court, 106 Iowa L. Rev. Online 47 (2021)
• Congress and Universal Injunctions, 43 Cardozo L. Rev. De Novo 187 (2021)
• Academic Feeder Judges, 105 Judicature 7 (2021)

SCOTUSBlog Contributions

• Court endorses private § 1983 enforcement of spending clause enactments, SCOTUSBlog, June 9, 2023
• Court explores continued private enforcement of spending clause enactments, SCOTUBlog, Nov. 11, 2022
• In family’s lawsuit against public nursing home, court revisits private rights of action and the spending clause, SCOTUSBlog, Nov. 7, 2022
• Court constricts, even if it does not quite eliminate, damages actions under Bivens, SCOTUSBlog, June 8, 2022
• Criminal proceedings reach “favorable termination” when they end without conviction, SCOTUSBlog, Apr. 4, 2022
• Justices weigh the effect of foreign borders and national security on Bivens actions, SCOTUSBlog, Mar. 3, 2022
• Border agents, the First Amendment, and the continued vitality of Bivens, SCOTUSBlog, Mar. 1, 2022
• Argument recap: Centaurs, Jean Valjean, and a proposed three-sentence ruling on the meaning of favorable termination, SCOTUSBlog, Oct. 13, 2021

• Argument preview: Favorable termination and indications of innocence in Section 1983 malicious prosecution claims, SCOTUSBlog, Oct. 10, 2021

Other Publications

• A New Approach to Personal Jurisdiction, JOTWELL, Feb. 2025 (review essay)
• Question Selection, the Supreme Court, and Legitimacy, JOTWELL, Oct. 2023 (review essay)
• How at least one Jewish baseball player has beaten the Koufax jinx and the Kol Nidre curse, The Forward, Oct. 14, 2022
• Catching and Killing It in Federal Court, JOTWELL, July 2022 (review essay)
• These Jews were among baseball’s all-time greats—but do they count as “Jewish baseball players?”, The Forward, June 1, 2022
• Why this will be the most Jewish World Series in baseball history, The Forward, 25, 2021
• Navigating the Procedure of Texas’ Fetal Heartbeat Act, com, Oct. 18, 2021 (with Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes)
• Texas’ fetal-heartbeat law creates a procedural morass, but it doesn’t preclude judicial review, Daily J., Sept. 14, 2021 (with Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes)
• Why playing baseball on Yom Kippur Matters, The Forward, Aug. 2021
• The Paths to Comprehensive Entity Liability in Constitutional Litigation, JOTWELL, June 23, 2021 (review essay)

Education

• JD, Northwestern University School of Law
• BS, Northwestern University