David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University. During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association¿s President¿s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, is on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Institute. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bishop Gassis Relief Fund, dedicated to relieving the war-induced famine in the Sudan. He is also a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts. He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006) published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States. His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, and Constitutional History.
Articles
May It Please The Court, Claremont Review of Books (2011)
As Alexander Hamilton noted, judges have no power of the purse. They have no army....
Free Speech for Plutocrats: One Year Later, Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, Ashland University (2011)
Letter: Religion and the Marriage Discourse, First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion & Public Life (2011)
Originalism in the Classroom, Academic Questions (2011)
Compared to the contest over constitutional interpretation in the literature, and certainly in contrast to...
Books
The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (with Edwin Meese and Matthew Spalding), Scholarship Collection (2005)
Analyzes each line of the American federal government's written set of principles and precedents, interpreting...
Studies in Islamic Law: Classical and Contemporary Application, Scholarship Collection (1999)
Professor Forte (of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law) is an acknowledged scholar in Islamic law....
Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, Scholarship Collection (1998)
Twenty-two essays based on presentations at an April 1996 conference held at Cleveland State University...
The Supreme Court, Scholarship Collection (1979)
Examines the Supreme Court, its role in American history, and its influence on American life...
The Supreme Court in American Politics: Judicial Activism vs. Judicial Restraint, Scholarship Collection (1972)
Collection of articles on the Supreme Court, judicial restraint, the Warren Court, Constitutional issues.
Contributions to Books
The Morality of Positive Law, A Second Look at First Things: A Case for Conservative Politics (2012)
The Framers' Idea of Marriage and Family, The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals (2006)
The founders understood the symbiotic connection between family virtues and civic virtues. They knew it...
The Making of the Modern Supreme Court: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and Louis D. Brandeis, History of American Political Thought (2003)
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and Louis D. Brandeis made the modern Supreme Court. These two...
Presentations
Testimony Before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, In Support of H.R. 5037, the "Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act,", Congressional Testimony (2006)
H.R. 5037, entitled the ”Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act,” seeks to limit ”certain demonstrations”...
Replacing Any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, Any Home with a Shopping Mall?: Citizens' Rights and Government's Rights Following the Supreme Court's Decision in Kelo v. City of New London (with Alan Weinstein, WM Dennis Keating, Norman Krumholz, and Edward W. Hill), "Replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall?" : Citizens' rights and Government's rights following the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London (2005)
The United States Supreme Court after Justice O'Connor -- Transition or Transformation? (with James G. Wilson, Joel J. Finer, Jonathan L. Entin, Candice Hoke, Stephen R. Lazarus, and Kevin F. O'Neill), The United States Supreme Court after Justice O'Connor--Transition or transformation? (2005)
Briefs and Court Documents
Brief of Amici Curiae of Ohio Right to Life Society, Inc., Cleveland Lawyers for Life, Inc., Physicians for Life, Inc. in support of Respondents, National Organization for Women v. Scheidler, 114 S. Ct. 798 (1993), National Organization for Women v. Scheidler, 114 S. Ct. 798 (1993) (1993)
(In this action, petitioner health care clinics alleged, among other things, that respondents, a coalition...
Brief of Defendant-Appellees Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and Bishop Anthony M. Pilla , Hawley v. City of Cleveland, 24 F3d 814 (6th Cir. 1994) (with Douglas J. Paul, Edward J. Maher, and Bernard Niehaus), Hawley v. City of Cleveland,24 F3d 814 (6th Cir. 1994) (1993)
A City of Cleveland Ordinance leasing space in the airport to the Catholic Diocese of...
Brief of Feminists for Life of America, Professional Women's Network, Birthright, Inc., Legal Action for Women, as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents and Cross Petitioners - Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 112 S. Ct. 2791 (1992) (with Keith A. Fournier, Christine Smith Torre, Theodore H. Amshoff, and Mary Dice Grenen), Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 112 S. Ct. 2791 (1992) (1992)
Amici, representing women from all walks of life, are compelled by experience and conviction to...
Brief of Jerome S. Luebbers, for Himself and 61 Other members of the Ohio General Assembly as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellant, State of Ohio - Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 497 U.S. 502 (1990) (with Patrick J. Perotti, John Makdis, and Joseph Meissner), Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 497 U.S. 502 (1990) (1989)
Amici respectfully request the Court to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals in...