JOHN D. INAZU
One Brookings Drive, MSC 1120 - 250 - 258
Washington University School of Law
St. Louis, MO 63130

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

Washington University in St. Louis

  • Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion (2016-present)
    (joint appointment in law school and John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics)

  • Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) (2016-present)

  • Associate Professor of Law (2011-16); David M. Becker Law School Professor of the Year (2013-14)

  • Associate Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) (2011-16)

  • John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics (affiliate faculty) (2014-16)

University of Virginia

  • Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (2016-17)

  • Residential Faculty Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (2014-15)

Duke University School of Law

  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Law (2010-11)

  • Fellow, Program in Public Law (2009-10)

LEGAL EMPLOYMENT

Ellis & Winters, LLP

  • Special Counsel (2009)

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Roger L. Wollman (2004-05)

Office of the Air Force General Counsel (National Security & Military Affairs)

  • Associate General Counsel (2003-04)

Office of the Air Force General Counsel (Acquisition)

  • Associate General Counsel (2000-03)

  • Chief, Bid Protests (2002-03)

EDUCATION

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ph.D. (Political Science) (2009)

  • Committee: Jeff Spinner-Halev (chair), Susan Bickford, Michael Lienesch, H. Jefferson Powell, Stanley Hauerwas

  • Fields: Political Theory and Public Law

  • Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster, Jr. Fellow

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.A. (Political Science) (2007)

Duke University School of Law, J.D. (2000)

Duke University, B.S.E. (Civil Engineering) (1997)

BOOKS

Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024)

Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (University of Chicago Press, 2016)

  • reviewed in Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Commentary, Chicago Law Review and others

  • paperback edition with new preface (University of Chicago Press, 2018)

Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (Yale University Press, 2012)

  • reviewed in Texas Law Review, The New Republic, First Things, Journal of Legal Education, and others

EDITED VOLUMES

Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference (with Timothy Keller) (Thomas Nelson, 2020)

The Religion Clauses, 97 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1631 (2020)

Theological Argument in Law: Engaging with Stanley Hauerwas, 75 Law & Contemp. Probs., no. 4 (2012)

ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS

“The Right of Assembly Revisited,” in Ashutosh Bhagwat & Alan K. Chen, eds., The Elgar Companion to Freedom of Speech and Expression (forthcoming 2025)

“Assembly, Pluralism, and Identity,” in Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Michael Hamilton, Thomas Probert, and Sharath Srinivasan, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Assembly (Oxford University Press, 2024)

First Amendment Scrutiny: Realigning First Amendment Doctrine Around Government Interests, 89 Brooklyn L. Rev. 1 (2023)

COVID-19, Churches, and Culture Wars, 18 U. St. Thomas L.J. 207 (2022)

Virtual Access: A New Framework for Disability Access and Human Flourishing in an Online World , 2021 Wisc. L. Rev. 719 (2021) (with Johanna Smith)

Beyond Unreasonable, 99 Neb. L. Rev. 375 (2020)

Holmes, Humility, and How Not to Kill Each Other, 94 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1631 (2019)

The Purpose (and Limits) of the University, 5 Utah L. Rev. 943 (2018)

“Hope without a Common Good,” in Eboo Patel, Out of Many Faiths: Religious Diversity and the American Promise (Princeton University Press, 2018)

Peyote and Ghouls in the Night: Justice Scalia’s Religion Clause Minimalism, 15 First Amend. L. Rev. 239 (2017)

Unlawful Assembly as Social Control, 64 UCLA L. Rev. 2 (2017)

Re-Assembling Labor, 2015 Ill. L. Rev. 1791 (2015) (with Marion Crain)

A Confident Pluralism, 88 S. Cal. L. Rev. 587 (2015)

The First Amendment’s Public Forum, 56 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1159 (2015)

More is More: Strengthening Free Exercise, Speech, and Association, 99 Minn. L. Rev. 485 (2014)

  • selected for reprint in 2014-15 First Amendment Handbook

The Four Freedoms and the Future of Religious Liberty, 92 N.C. L. Rev. 787 (2014)

  • response by Nelson Tebbe, 92 N.C. L. Rev. 917 (2014)

The Freedom of the Church (New Revised Standard Version), 21 J. Contemp. Legal Issues 335 (2013)

Virtual Assembly, 98 Cornell L. Rev. 1093 (2013)

The Limits of Integrity, 75 Law & Contemp. Probs., no. 4, 181 (2012)

Factions for the Rest of Us, 89 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1435 (2012)

Justice Ginsburg and Religious Liberty, 63 Hastings L.J. 1213 (2012)

Between Liberalism and Theocracy, 33 Camp. L. Rev. 591 (2011)

The Unsettling “Well-Settled” Law of Freedom of Association, 43 Conn. L. Rev. 149 (2010)

The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly, 84 Tul. L. Rev. 565 (2010)

The Strange Origins of the Constitutional Right of Association, 77 Tenn. L. Rev. 485 (2010)

Making Sense of Schaumburg: Seeking Coherence in First Amendment Charitable Solicitation Law, 92 Marq. L. Rev. 551 (2009)

No Future Without (Personal) Forgiveness: Reexamining the Role of Forgiveness in Transitional Justice, 10 Hum. Rts. Rev. 309 (2009)

Boeing v. Roche and the Benefit Theory of Allocability: Unlocking Lockheed or Ignoring Northrop?, 32 Pub. Cont. L.J. 39 (2002)

SHORTER ACADEMIC WRITING

Scholarship, Teaching, and Protest, 97 Wash U. L. Rev. vii (2020) (response to protest statement by law review editors)

Taking Stock of the Religion Clauses, 97 Wash U. L. Rev. 1631 (2020) (introduction to symposium on The Religion Clauses)

Law, Religion, and the Purpose of the University, 94 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1493 (2017) (chair address at installation into Sally D. Danforth Professorship)

The Christian Witness to the State: Nicolas Wolterstorff on John Howard Yoder, J.L. & Relig. (2015)

Institutions in Context, 50 Tul. L. Rev. 491 (2015) (reviewing Paul Horwitz, First Amendment Institutions (Harvard University Press, 2013))

Advocacy and Association, 2013 Utah L. Rev. OnLaw 1

Stanley Hauerwas & the Law: Is There Anything to Say?, 75 Law & Contemp. Probs., no. 4, i (2012) (introduction to symposium volume on Theological Argument in Law)

INVITED TESTIMONY AND BRIEFS

Mckesson v. Doe, Brief Amicus Curiae of Professor John D. Inazu in Support of Petitioners) (2023) (represented by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP) (supporting certiorari)

Pleasant View Baptist Church v. Beshear, Brief Amicus Curiae of Professor John D. Inazu in Support of Petitioners) (2023) (represented by Jones Day and the Pepperdine Law School Religious Liberty Clinic) (supporting rehearing en banc)

Vitagliano v. County of Westchester, Brief Amicus Curiae of the Christian Legal Society in Support of Petitioners) (2023) (with Michael McConnell and Steve McFarland)

Jingrong v. Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance, Brief Amicus Curiae of Professor John D. Inazu in Support of Petitioners) (2022) (represented by the Yale Law School Free Exercise Clinic) (supporting certiorari)

Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Agnes Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Darryl Biel, Brief Amicus Curiae of Professor John D. Inazu in Support of Petitioners (2020) (represented by Covington & Burling LLP)

McCullen v. Coakley, Brief Amicus Curiae of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, et al., in Support of Petitioner Eleanor McCullen (with Michael McConnell) (2013)

“Peaceful Coexistence?  Reconciling Non-discrimination Principles with Civil Liberties,” Briefing to United States Commission on Civil Rights (March 22, 2013)

SELECTED OPINION PIECES

“Unity in Our Liberties,” Law & Liberty (August 23, 2023) (responding to Yuval Levin’s “Constitutional Unity)

“Amy Coney Barrett, Handmaids, and Empathy for the Unfamiliar,” Newsweek (September 23, 2020)

“Close the Churches,” The Atlantic (March 18, 2020)

“America’s Most Under-Appreciated Right,” The Atlantic (December 25, 2019)

“Democrats Are Going to Regret Beto’s Stance on Conservative Churches,” The Atlantic (October 12, 2019)

“Searching for Safe Spaces,” Inside Higher Ed (with Ashutosh Bhagwat) (March 21, 2017)

“How to United in Spite of Trump,” USA Today (December 22, 2016)

“We Disagree on the ‘Self-Evident Truths’ in the Declaration of Independence. But We Always Did,” Washington Post (July 5, 2016)

“Rehabilitating Freedom of Assembly,” USA Today (January 10, 2016)

“Do Black Lives Matter to Evangelicals?” Washington Post (January 6, 2016), reprinted in Chicago Tribune (January 7, 2016)

“The Japanese-American Internment Decision: A Dangerous Relic,” Los Angeles Times (with Karen Tani) (December 18, 2015)

“America’s Dividing Line: Thoughts, Prayers, and Belief in a Transcendent God,” CNN (December 4, 2015)

“Want a Vibrant Public Square?  Support Religious Tax Exemptions,” Washington Post (September 16, 2015)

“Are We Ferguson?” CNN (August 21, 2014)

“Contraception Fight Not Just a ‘Catholic Thing,'” USA Today (August 20, 2012)

You can see a list of additional opinion pieces here.

BOOK REVIEWS

“Justice by Association,” The Dispatch (July 1, 2023) (reviewing Danielle Allen, Justice by Means of Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2023))

“You Only Have 3,429 Weeks,” The Gospel Coalition (August 30, 2021) (reviewing Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2021))

“Engaging Jesus and John Wayne,” Hedgehog Review Blog (February 24, 2021) (reviewing Kristin Kobez Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (Liveright, 2020))

“Preserving Religious Freedoms in a Pluralistic Society,” Marginalia (November 6, 2020) (reviewing Robert Louis Wilken, Liberty in the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom (Yale University Press, 2019))

“Searching for Solidarity—and Starting with Facts,” The Gospel Coalition (November 2, 2020) (reviewing Jonathan Sacks, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times (Basic Books, 2020))

“How a Book on Doubt Changed My Life,” The Gospel Coalition (August 12, 2019) (reviewing Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Eerdmans, 1995))

“Higher Education Must Address Free Speech and Social Justice,” The Gospel Coalition (December 12, 2018) (reviewing Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (Penguin, 2018))

“Please Join Me in Expressing Displeasure With the Draft,” Comment (February 16, 2017) (reviewing Keith J. Bybee, How Civility Works (Stanford University Press, 2016))

“Contesting Religious Liberty,” Hedgehog Review (Fall 2016) (reviewing The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty, Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoe Robinson, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2016))

“We Need (Religious Freedom) Reinforcements,” The Gospel Coalition (August 26, 2016) (reviewing Mary Eberstadt, It’s Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies (Harper, 2016))

NAMED LECTURES AND COMMENCEMENT ADDRESSES

“Living Faithfully in a World of Difference”
Commencement Address
Greenville University (2024)

“Thriving Across Difference”
Lumen Lecture
Berry University (2024)

“The Right of Assembly Revisited”
Central Valley Foundation and James B. McClatchy Lecture on the First Amendment
University of California at Davis Law School (2021)

“Confident Pluralism”
Res Publica Lecture
Covenant College (2018)

“Going Forward”
Commencement Address
Houghton College (2017)

“Confident Pluralism”
Kamm Memorial Lecture on Jurisprudence
Wheaton College (2015)

“The Church’s Freedom and the Church’s Witness”
Pruis Rule of Law Lecture
Calvin College (2014)

OTHER SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

“Learning to Disagree”
University of Texas, University of Notre Dame, Bethel University, University of Florida, University of Illinois, Virtues and Vocations, Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit, Jacksonville Community Foundation, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, Wayne State University, Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering, Indiana Wesleyan University, UC Law San Francisco (2024)

“Contemporary Challenges to Professionalism: The Importance of Organizational Purpose, Values, and Mission”
Mayo Clinic (2023)

“Learning to Disagree: How to have Better Arguments in a Polarized Age”
Chautauqua Institute (2023)

“Revisiting the Right of Assembly” (with Bobby Chesney)
University of Texas School of Law (2023)

“Confident Pluralism in Law School”
First-year Orientation
Washington University School of Law (2022, 2023)

“Confident Pluralism in Medicine”
Grand Rounds, Department of Neurosurgery
Washington University School of Medicine (2021)

“Pluralism and the Purpose of Higher Education”
Virtues and Vocations Series
Duke University (2021)

“Churches, Protests, and the Pandemic”
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference (2021)

“The Battle for the Constitution: Policing and Protests” (with Tracy Meares and Charles Ramsey, moderated by Jeffrey Rosen)
National Constitution Center and The Atlantic (2020)

“Confident Pluralism”
Center for Effective Philanthropy (2019)

“Our Culture of Distrust” (with Jonathan Haidt, moderated by Christine Emba)
Veritas Forum
New York University (2019)

“Remarks at Portrait Ceremony of Judge Roger L. Wollman”
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2018) (reported at 911 F.3d XXXIII (8th Cir. 2018))

“Confidence and Compassion”
Plenary Address
Urbana Student Missions Conference (2018)

“Out of Many Faiths” (with Eboo Patel, Nancy Cable, Robert P. Jones, and Laurie Patton)
Art Institute of Chicago (2018)

“Contemporary Challenges in Law and Religion”
Zhejiang University (Hangzhou) (2017)

“Confident Pluralism”
Stanford Law School (2016)

“Civility in the Public Square” (with Nicholas Kristof and Tim Keller, moderated by Stephanie Summers)
Redeemer Presbyterian Church (2016)

Panel on Confident Pluralism (with Yuval Levin, Meira Neggaz, Garnette Cadogan, Charles Haynes, and Brett McDonnell, moderated by Laurie Goodstein)
Newseum (2016)

“Religious Liberty and the American Culture Wars”
Faith Angle Forum (2015)

“The Four Freedoms and the Future of Religious Liberty”
Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (2013)

“Groups, Pluralism, and Constitutionalism: Challenging Consensus”
Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia (with commentary by Peter Berkowitz) (2013)

“The Freedom of Assembly,” United States Department of State Virtual Lecture Series (2013)

Symposium on Liberty’s Refuge (with Judge Janice Rogers Brown, Douglas Laycock, and David Bernstein)
American Enterprise Institute and Federalist Society (2012)

Symposium on Liberty’s Refuge (with Gregory Magarian, Susan Appleton, Robert Vischer, Ashutosh Bhagwat, Neil Richards, Bernadette Meyler, and Ian MacMullen)
Washington University School of Law (2012)

You can see a list of additional past speaking here.

COURSES TAUGHT

First Year Law:

  • Criminal Law (Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2015; Spring 2017; Spring 2019)

Upper Level Law:

  • Administrative Law (Spring 2011)

  • Religion and the Constitution (Fall 2011, Fall 2013; Spring 2016; Spring 2018; Spring 2020; Spring 2021; Fall 2021; Spring 2023; Fall 2024)

Law Seminars :

  • Religion and Liberal Democracy (Spring 2010)

  • Law, Religion, and Politics (Fall 2011, Fall 2015)

  • Law and Philosophy (Spring 2013)

  • First Amendment in Schools (Fall 2013)

  • Advanced Topics in First Amendment (Pluralism) (Fall 2016, Fall 2018)

  • Law, Religion, and the University (with Eboo Patel) (Spring 2019)

  • Law and Theology (Fall 2019, Spring 2025)

Undergraduate:

  • The First Amendment in an Age of Fracture (Fall 2024)

  • Law, Religion, and Politics (Fall 2017, Fall 2018; Fall 2019; Fall 2021; Spring 2023)

  • Religious Freedom in America (with Mark Valeri) (Fall 2016; Fall 2018; Fall 2020; Fall 2022)

  • Major Issues in Political Theory (First Amendment) (Fall 2007, Spring 2008)

  • Law, Race, and Design: Examining the St. Louis Story (with Penina Laker) (Spring 2020; Spring 2022)

ACADEMIC SERVICE

University

  • Honorary Degree Task Force of the Board of Trustees (2022-23)

  • St. Louis Hub Committee (2022-2023)

  • Search Committee, Dean of Law School (2021-22)

  • St. Louis Initiative, Strategic Plan Working Group (2021)

  • Public Safety Committee (2020-21)

  • Beyond Boundaries Faculty Advisory Council (2018-21)

  • Faculty Affiliate, Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (2020-present)

  • Strategy, Metrics, Academic Excellence, Ranking & Teaching (SMART) Committee (2019-20)

  • Race Institute Task Force (2016-17)

  • Standing Committee on Facilitating Inclusive Classrooms (2015-19)

Law School

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (2022, 2024-present)

  • Community Standards Working Group (2024-present (chair))

  • Faculty advisor to Student Veterans Association (2013-present)

  • Co-Organizer, Washington University First Amendment Scholars Roundtable (2012-16)

  • Co-Organizer, Washington University Regional Junior Faculty Workshop (2012-13)

  • Curriculum Committee (2011-12; 2021-22)

  • Admissions Committee (2012-2013)

  • Clerkship Advisor (2012-13)

  • Student Life Committee (2013-14)

  • Appointments Committee (2015-16; 2017-18 (chair); 2023)

  • Scholarship Committee (2016-17 (chair); 2018-19; 2020-21)

  • Clerkship Committee (2019-20)

OTHER ACADEMIC SERVICE

External Reviewer for Yale Law Journal, American Political Science Review, Law and Social Inquiry, Journal of Law and Religion, Yale University Press, University Press of Kansas, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press

Organizer, Conference on Theology of Institutions, John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics (2023)

Organizer, Conference on the Religion Clauses, Washington University School of Law (2020)

Co-Organizer, Fifth Annual Law and Religion Roundtable (2014)

Chair, AALS Section on Law and Religion (2014-15); (Program Co-Chair, 2012-13)

Organizer, Conference on Theological Argument in Law, Duke University School of Law (2011)

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Senior Fellow, Interfaith America (2021-present)

Senior Fellow, Trinity Forum (2023-present)

Trustee, John Burroughs School (2021-present)

Trustee, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (2015–2022; 2023-present)

Founder and Executive Director, The Carver Project (2017–2020); Trustee (2021-2023)

Founder and Director, Legal Vocation Fellowship (2021-present)

Co-Convener (with Eboo Patel), Newbigin Fellows (2021-present)

Board of Advisors, Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center, University of Texas (2023-present)

Academic Advisory Board, University of Tulsa Honors College (2023-present)

Advisory Board, Communities Overcoming Extremism (2018-2019)

Public Humanities Scholar, St. Louis County Library (American Creed: Community Conversations) (2019)

Member, Missouri Advisory Committee, United States Commission on Civil Rights (2014-16)

Committee, Urban Young Life (St. Louis) (2012-14)

Adult Education Teacher, Memorial Presbyterian Church (2011-13)

Advisor, Character and Citizenship Education Project (Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture) (2012-17)

Director of Youth Ministries, Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church (2006-08)

MILITARY SERVICE

Captain, United States Air Force (2000–04)

  • Meritorious Service Medal w/ oak leaf cluster (2003, 2004)

  • Air Force General Counsel’s Honors Program (2000–04)

  • Air Force ROTC Distinguished Graduate (1997)

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Colorado Bar
Missouri Bar
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
United States Supreme Court