Paul Gewirtz
Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director, Paul Tsai China Center
(on leave, spring 2023)
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School. He is also the Director of Yale’s Paul Tsai China Center. Professor Gewirtz teaches and writes in various legal and policy fields, including constitutional law, U.S. foreign policy and law, U.S.-China relations, Chinese law, federal courts, law and literature, antidiscrimination law, and comparative law.
FULL BIOGRAPHY
Contact Information
- Room 216
- 203-432-4961
- paul.gewirtz@yale.edu
Faculty Assistant
Kathi Lawton
- J24
- 203-436-8963
- katherine.lawton@yale.edu
Education & Curriculum Vitae
J.D., Yale Law School
B.A., Columbia University
Courses Taught
- Constitutional Law
- U.S. Foreign Policy and the Law
- U.S.-China Relations
- Contemporary China Research Seminar
- Chinese Law and Policy
- The Future of Human Rights
- Literature and Law
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School. He is also the Director of Yale’s Paul Tsai China Center. Professor Gewirtz teaches and writes in various legal and policy fields, including constitutional law, U.S. foreign policy and law, U.S.-China relations, Chinese law, federal courts, law and literature, antidiscrimination law, and comparative law.
The Paul Tsai China Center, which Professor Gewirtz founded in 1999 as The China Law Center, carries out research and teaching on legal development in China and on U.S.-China relations, and also undertakes a wide range of cooperative projects with Chinese counterparts to help advance China’s legal reforms and to contribute to the development of U.S.-China relations. From 1997–1998, Professor Gewirtz was on leave from Yale University and was a part of President Bill Clinton's administration, where he served as Special Representative for the Presidential Rule of Law Initiative. In that post, he developed and led the U.S.-China initiative to cooperate in the legal field that President Clinton and China's President Jiang Zemin agreed to at their 1997 and 1998 Summit meetings.
Professor Gewirtz was also the founder of Yale Law School’s Global Constitutionalism Seminar, which brings leading Supreme Court judges from around the world to Yale each year, and was the Seminar’s Director for ten years. Before joining the Yale faculty, Professor Gewirtz served as law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court and practiced law in Washington, D.C. at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and the Center for Law and Social Policy. In 2015, he was named the inaugural Jones Day Chair Professor in Globalization and the Rule of Law at Peking University Law School. He is also a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations. He received his B.A. degree summa cum laude from Columbia University and his law degree from Yale.
Monday, February 22, 2021
Jerome Cohen Discusses the Role of Law in U.S.-China Relations
Professor Jerome Cohen ’55, America’s leading expert on Chinese law and government, gave a talk via Zoom to a large gathering of students and faculty at Yale Law School and beyond on February 10, 2021.
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Ex-officials, academics call for US to work with Europe to counter China
South China Morning Post
A new report published by the Paul Tsai China Center is discussed in the South China Morning Post. Center Director and Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law Paul Gewirtz is mentioned, along with Executive Director Robert D. Williams, Senior Fellow Susan Thornton, and Non-Resident Affiliated Fellows Ryan Hass and David Dollar.
Monday, December 14, 2020
Professor Gewirtz Delivers Lecture to Peking University Law School
Paul Gewirtz, the Director of Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School, delivered a Zoom lecture at Peking University Law School titled “Law as Foundation, Lawyers as Leaders.”
Friday, September 11, 2020
Paul Tsai China Center Promotes U.S.-China Communication Amid Bilateral Strains
The Paul Tsai China Center has sponsored and organized dialogues between non-official experts and academics with Chinese counterparts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Friday, June 26, 2020
How to Work with Our Allies on China Policy
Director of the Paul Tsai China Center Paul Gewirtz argues that it is essential for the United States to work with our allies on foreign policy matters.
Monday, June 1, 2020
No one knows: How the unknowable consequences of COVID-19 affect thinking about foreign policy and US-China relations — A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz
Brookings Institution
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School and is also the Director of Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.
Friday, May 1, 2020
Paul Tsai China Center Engages in COVID-19 and U.S.-China Issues
The Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School has been actively engaged in a range of efforts addressing issues at the intersection of COVID-19 and U.S.-China relations.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Can the U.S.-China crisis be stabilized? — A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz ’70
The Brookings Institution
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School and is also the Director of Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.
Monday, February 4, 2019
Paul Gewirtz Moderates “Fireside Conversation” with Former National Security Advisors
On October 30, 2018, former national security advisors Stephen Hadley and Susan Rice participated in a “fireside conversation” at the Brookings Institution to discuss U.S.-China relations.
Monday, February 4, 2019
Brookings-Yale Workshop Looks at the Way Forward for U.S.-China Relations
On October 30, 2018, the Paul Tsai China Center of Yale Law School and the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution jointly held a high-level, closed-door workshop to discuss U.S.-China relations today and going forward.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Distinguished Diplomat Named Senior Fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center
Former Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan A. Thornton will join the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School as a Senior Fellow.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
South China Sea code 'should be binding', says Chinese scholar
The Straits Times
Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director of The Paul Tsai China Center Paul Gewirtz is quoted in an article on The Code of Conduct (COC) being negotiated between China and Asean countries.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Getting More Cooperation From China on North Korea—A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz and Joe Onek ’67
Lawfare
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School and Joe Onek ’67 is a Principal in The Raben Group and a national security advisor to TCP.
Friday, July 7, 2017
How China Misread Donald Trump—A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz
Politico Magazine
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director of the Paul Tsai China Center.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
No Winners or Losers, Please—A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz
China File
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School and is also the Director of Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Impulsiveness, Law, and the Immigration Order—A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz ’70
Lawfare
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and the Director of Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Why law can’t solve the South China Sea conflict—A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz
The Washington Post
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School and the Director of Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Gewirtz Publishes Article on Limits of Law in South China Seas
Professor Paul Gewirtz offers his perspective on the role law has to play in addressing the contentious claims to sovereignty and safe passage in the South China Sea, one of the world's most pressing geopolitical questions.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Limits of law in the South China Sea
The Brookings Institution
Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director of the Paul Tsai China Center Paul Gewirtz published a paper on the South China Sea.
Monday, March 21, 2016
China Center Receives $30 Million Gift in Honor of Dr. Paul Tsai
Yale Law School has received a gift of $30 million in honor of its distinguished alumnus, the late Dr. Paul C. Tsai, LL.M ’54, J.S.D. ’57, to support the continuing work of the Law School’s China Center.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Jerome Cohen ’55 to Speak on China’s Law and Power
Jerome A. Cohen ’55 will give a lecture titled “Law and Power: China’s Ongoing Struggle” on February 3, 2016, at 12:10 p.m. in Room 122. Cohen, Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, is the leading public intellectual on Chinese law and human rights outside of China and the founder and director of NYU’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Professor Gewirtz Named to Foreign Policy Magazine’s Pacific Power Index
Paul Gewirtz, Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director of The China Center at Yale Law School, has been named to Foreign Policy magazine’s Pacific Power Index, a list of “50 people shaping the future of the U.S.-China relationship.”
Thursday, January 1, 2015
The Pacific Power Index: From moguls to migrants, Harvard to Huawei: 50 people shaping the future of the U.S.-China relationship
Foreign Policy
Paul Gewirtz, Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director of The China Center at Yale Law School, has been named to the Pacific Power Index.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Obama’s Chance to Get China Right - A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz
Paul Gewirtz '70 is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School and Director of The China Center.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
What China Means by ‘Rule of Law’—A Commentary by Paul Gewirtz
The New York Times
Paul Gewirtz is the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School and is also the Director of Yale Law School’s China Center.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Admiral Gary Roughead, Former Chief Of Naval Operations, to Deliver Lecture on the Role of Navies in the 21st Century
Admiral Gary Roughead, a four-star admiral who recently retired as the United States' Chief of Naval Operations, will deliver a lecture entitled "Sea Power and National Security in the 21st Century: Why Navies Matter" at Yale Law School on Thursday, April 17. The lecture, which will take place from 4:10-5:30 p.m. in Room 128, is open to the public.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Former Ambassador/General Karl Eikenberry to Deliver Lecture on Afghanistan
Karl Eikenberry, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and Commanding General of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, will deliver a lecture titled "The End of America's Long War and the Future of Afghanistan" at Yale Law School on Thursday, April 10, 2014.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
State Department Policy Planning Director and Hillary Clinton Advisor Jake Sullivan ’03 Will Discuss American Leadership Friday
Jake Sullivan ’03, head of the U.S. State Department’s Policy Planning office, will discuss “American Leadership in a Changing World” on Oct. 28 at Yale Law School.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Professor Gewirtz Meets with President Obama on U.S.-China Summit
President Obama held an unusual 75-minute meeting with Professor Paul Gewirtz at the White House on January 14 to discuss the upcoming Summit meeting between Obama and China’s President.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
International Supreme Court and Constitutional Justices Meet at Yale Law School
The fourteenth Global Constitutionalism Seminar took place at Yale Law School September 22-25, 2010.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series—Jerome Cohen ’55 Speaks on Law and Life in Asia
Jerome Cohen ’55 will lecture February 2, 9, and 23 about law and life in Asia.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
China Law Center Co-Hosts Anti-Discrimination Workshop in Chengdu
Yale Law School's Jack Balkin (behind left), Paul Gewirtz '70 (left), and Reva Siegel ’86 (right) attended.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Professor Robert Post Delivers First Lecture in New Series on Free Expression
The China Law Center and Peking University kicked off a new lecture series in Beijing on May 18, 2007, with a lecture by YLS Professor Robert Post. His address, part of a day-long program, was the first in a new series on “Information and Expression in a Transforming Society.”
Monday, September 12, 2005
Panel of YLS Professors to Discuss, "The Roberts Nomination: What's at Stake?" Sept. 14
On Wednesday, September 14, 2005, Yale Law School will host a discussion of the future of the U.S. Supreme Court, titled "The Roberts Nomination: What's at Stake?" The talk will start at 12:10 p.m. and run until 1:30 p.m. in Room 127.