William M. Treanor

William Treanor is a senior research scholar in law at Yale Law School and Agnes William Sesquicentennial Professor of Constitutional Law and Constitutional History at Georgetown Law Center. He recently completed 15 years as dean of the law center and as university executive vice president. Before joining the Georgetown Law faculty, he was dean of Fordham Law School. He has held a range of positions in government, including serving as deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, a special assistant United States attorney, an Iran-Contra associate counsel, and speechwriter for the first Secretary of Education, Judge Shirley Hufstedler. He clerked for Judge James L. Oakes of the United State Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. 

His scholarship focuses on the original understanding of the U.S. Constitution, and he has written extensively on the takings clause and textualism. He has written, as well, on the origins of judicial review, which was cited in the Supreme Court's recent decision in Moore v. Harper (2023). He is currently working on his forthcoming book, “Fathers of the Constitution: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Creation of the American Republic” (Norton). 

The National Jurist magazine has named Treanor one of the most influential people in legal education five times. The American Lawyer recently selected Treanor for its Lifetime Achievement Award, and the World Jurist Association presented him with its Medal of Honor.