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About Thomas E. Baker

With over four decades of law teaching experience, Professor Baker is a nationally-recognized constitutionalist who has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the first-ever Pioneer Award for his commitment and dedication to students from the FIU Student Bar Association in 2004. Since then, students have voted him “Professor of the Year” multiple times. He received the FIU Top Scholar Award in 2012 and the FIU Faculty Recognition Award in 2010.

Before coming to the FIU College of Law as a member of the founding faculty in 2002, Professor Baker held the James Madison Chair in constitutional law that Congress endowed at Drake University Law School to commemorate the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. From 1985 to 1987, he worked at the Supreme Court of the United States; first as a Judicial Fellow and then as Acting Administrative Assistant to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

From 1979 to 1998, Professor Baker was a member of the faculty at Texas Tech University School of Law, where he held the Alvin R. Allison Distinguished Professorship and received every teaching award the law school and the University conferred. He was the Distinguished Fulbright Professor of American Constitutional Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Greece in 1992. He served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Supreme Court History from 1991 to 1993. He was a visiting professor at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida and at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary.

By appointment of the Chief Justice, Professor Baker was a member of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure from 1990 to 1995, for which he received a formal Commendation for Distinguished Service from the Judicial Conference of the United States. He was the recipient of the Bicentennial of the Constitution Award in Legal Education in 1987. He served on the Board of Directors of the American Judicature Society from 2000 to 2002. He was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers in 2004 and was designated a life member of the American Law Institute in 2009. He was designated a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2011. He was on the Legal Policy Advisory Board of the Washington Legal Foundation from 1998 to 2012. From 2012 to 2015, he served on the Advisory Committee of the Journal of Legal Education. He is a biographee in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who Among American Teachers, and the Directory of American Scholars, et alia.

Professor Baker publishes commentaries and is frequently quoted in the national media as an expert in constitutional law and the federal courts. He has appeared on Slate.com, NPR, Law.com, CNN’s Burden of Proof, C-SPAN, and numerous legal education programs for lawyers and judges.

Professor Baker has authored twelve books, including two leading law school casebooks and the popular “Nutshell” on Constitutional Law. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles in leading journals and law reviews, including Harvard, Michigan, UCLA, Iowa, Emory, Kansas, Wake Forest, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Washington & Lee, William & Mary, and Florida State, as well as essays in A.B.A. Journal, American Journal of Legal History, Journal of Legal Education, Constitutional Commentary, Judicature, Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, Green Bag 2d, and William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. He served on the advisory panel for Garner’s Modern American Usage 3d Edition and Black’s Law Dictionary 9th Edition.

After graduating from law school, Professor Baker clerked for a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His law school recognitions included: U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program, Moot Court Board, Law Review Board, High Honors, Order of the Coif, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Society.

Positions

Present Professor of Law, Florida International University College of Law
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January 2007 - May 2007 Visiting Professor, Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary
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August 1998 - August 2002 James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law and Director of the Constitutional Law Center, Drake University Law School
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October 1991 - August 1998 Professor 1984-91; Associate Professor 1982-84; Assistant Professor 1979-82, Texas Tech University School of Law
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May 1994 - August 1994 Visiting Professor, University of Florida College of Law
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September 1992 - December 1992 Fulbright Professor, National and Capodistrian University of Athens
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September 1986 - January 1987 Acting Administrative Assistant, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
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August 1985 - August 1986 Federal Judicial Fellow, Supreme Court of the United States
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August 1977 - August 1979 Law Clerk to Judge James C. Hill, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
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Curriculum Vitae




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Honors and Awards

  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation (2011)
  • Professor of the Year for 2011-12, FIU College of Law Student Bar Association
  • Professor of the Year for 2010-11, FIU College of Law Student Bar Association
  • FIU’s Top Scholar Award (Spring 2012) FIU Book Author Award (Spring 2012)
  • FIU’s Top Faculty Presidential Recognition Award (Spring 2010)
  • Operational Excellence Award in recognition of meritorious performance, Florida International University (Spring 2009)
  • Fellow, American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (July 2004)
  • Pioneer Award from the Student Bar Association in Appreciation for Guidance and Dedication to the Florida International University College of Law (March 2004)
  • Elected Graduation Hooding Professor by the FIU College of Law Graduating Classes of 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008
  • Student Bar Association President’s Award for Outstanding Service to the Students of Drake Law School (March 2002)
  • Who’s Who In America (56th ed. 2002)
  • 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the 21st Century, International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England (2001)
  • Commendation for Distinguished Service to the Federal Courts awarded by the Judicial Conference of the United States (1995)
  • American Law Institute (elected 1984
  • Elected to Life Membership 2009)
  • Smith Kline Beckman Bicentennial of the Constitution Award in Legal Education (1988)
  • Justice Tom C. Clark Judicial Fellow Award for 1985-86
  • Faculty Development Leave, Texas Tech University (Fall 1992)
  • Barnie E. Rushing, Jr. University Faculty Distinguished Researcher Award, Texas Tech University (1997)
  • Spencer A. Wells University Award for Creative Excellence in Teaching, Texas Tech University (1991)
  • President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, Texas Tech University (1990)
  • Outstanding Professor Award, Texas Tech School of Law (1989)
  • Outstanding Professor Award, Texas Tech School of Law (1988)
  • Outstanding Faculty Research Award, Texas Tech School of Law (1995)
  • Outstanding Faculty Research Award, Texas Tech School of Law (1983)
  • Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who, the premier publisher of biographical profiles. The award recognizes his long and distinguished career as a legal educator, 2018.
  • Biographee - Who’s Who in America
  • Biographee - Who’s Who In American Law
  • Biographee - Who’s Who Among
  • Biographee - American Teachers
  • Biographee - Who’s Who Among Rising Young Americans
  • Biographee - Who’s Who Of Emerging Leaders In America
  • Biographee - Who’s Who In Society
  • Biographee - Who’s Who In The World
  • Biographee - International Who’s Who Of Intellectuals
  • Biographee - Community Leaders Of America
  • Biographee - Dictionary Of International Biography
  • Biographee - International Directory Of Distinguished Leadership
  • Biographee - International Leaders In Achievement
  • Biographee - Men Of Achievement
  • Biographee - Directory Of American Scholar
  • Biographee - International Who’s Who Of Intellectuals
  • Biographee - Who’s Who In The South And Southwest

Courses

  • American Constitutional History
  • American Constitutional Interpretation
  • Constitutional Law
  • Constitutional Law Seminar (Practicum)
  • Constitutional Law Seminar (Theory)
  • Federal Jurisdiction
  • First Amendment
  • First Amendment Seminar
  • Framers’ Constitution
  • Jurisprudence
  • Supreme Court Seminar

Education

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June 1977 J.D., Law, University of Florida, College of Law
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June 1974 B. S. cum laude, Economics & Political Science, Florida State University
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Contact Information

Florida International University
College of Law
11200 SW 8th Street RDB 2038
Miami, FL 33199
 
Phone: 305.348.8342
 
Email: bakerth@fiu.edu