Spencer Livingstone is a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale and a Resident Fellow of the Information Society Project. Originally from Toronto, Canada, he received his B.A. with honors in Philosophy from Hamilton College, and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he served as the Articles, Book Reviews, and Commentaries Chair of the Harvard Law Review. Prior to his doctoral studies, he served as a law clerk in the chambers of the Honorable Michael J. Moldaver of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Operating at the intersection of procedure and public law, Spencer’s research focuses on the scope and limits of judicial power within contemporary constitutional systems. Informed by both historical and comparative perspectives, he has written on the topics of constitutional remedies, government immunities, constitutional practice outside the courts, the relations between different kinds of courts, and pluralist approaches to public law theory. Moving beyond a vision of the courts as "guardians of the Constitution," Spencer's work explores the construction of judicial power to better understand the institutional roles of courts relative to other constitutional actors in promoting the rule of law. The members of his doctoral committee are Jack Balkin, Robert Post, and Judith Resnik.
Spencer can be reached at spencer.livingstone@yale.edu.