George D. Brown

robert drinan, s.j., professor of law


George Brown

At a glance...
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Robert Drinan, S.J., Professor of Law
Law School

browngd@bc.edu

Office Location
Law School
EW318

617.552.4375

    

BACKGROUND
Professor George Brown is the Robert Drinan,S.J., Professor of Law at Boston College Law School. He is a specialist in the field of federal-state relations and government ethics. In both areas he draws on his extensive experience in state government. He has served as Legislative Assistant to the Governor of Massachusetts and as Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts. In 1994, Governor William Weld appointed him Chair of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission. In the field of federal-state relations, Professor Brown is best known for his articles on the jurisdiction of federal courts and on the federal grant-in-aid system. He has also served as Chair of the Section on Federal Courts of the Association of American Law Schools.

In the field of government ethics, Professor Brown has written several articles on recent judicial developments. His current research focuses on the role of the courts in the War on Terror.

EDUCATION

A.B., J. D., Harvard University.


RECENT ACTIVITIES

PRESENTATIONS:

Panelist on Political Corruption, Wayne State University Law Review Symposium, March 24, 2006.

Speaker on Campaign Finance Reform, Counsel on Governmental Ethics Laws Annual Meeting, December 5, 2005.

Panelist on Supreme Court role in political corruption cases, Annual Meeting, American Political Science Association, September, 2004.

COURSES

Fall '07: Administrative Law; Church and State
Spring '08: Constitutional Law

PUBLICATIONS
  • "Political Judges and Popular Justice: A Conservative Victory or a Conservative Dilemma?" William and Mary Law Review  49 (2008): 1543-
  • "The Gratuities Debate and Campaign Reform: How Strong is the Link?" Wayne Law Review 52 (2006): 1371-1413.
  • "Counterrevolution? - National Criminal Law after Raich". Ohio State Law Journal 66, no. 5 (2005): 947-1013.
  • "Carte Blanche: Federal Prosecution of State and Local Officials After Sabri." Catholic University Law Review 54: no.2 (2005): 403-443.
  • "New Federalism's Unanswered Question: Who Should Prosecute State and Local Officials for Political Corruption?" Washington and Lee Law Review 60 (Spring 2003): 417-511.
  • With Thomas R. Kiley. "Vote No to Public Funding." The Boston Globe 262: no.125 (November 2, 2002): A15.
  • "Federal Government Rescues States from Corruption Trials." Boston Sunday Herald (August 4, 2002): O28.
  • "Constitutionalizing the Federal Criminal Law Debate: Morrison, Jones, and the ABA." University of Illinois Law Review 2001: no.4 (2001): 983-1024.
  • "Putting Watergate Behind Us - Salinas, Sun-Diamond, and Two Views of the Anticorruption Model." Tulane Law Review 74 (February 2000): 747-813.
  • "Stealth Statute – Corruption, the Spending Power, and the Rise of 18 U.S.C. § 666." Notre Dame Law Review 73 (January 1998): 247-313.
  • "The Ethics Backlash and the Independent Counsel Statute." Rutgers Law Review 51 (Winter 1999): 433-491.
  • "Should Federalism Shield Corruption? -- Mail Fraud, State Law and Post-Lopez Analysis." Cornell Law Review 82 (January 1997): 225-300.
  • "The Constitution as an Obstacle to Government Ethics -- Reformist Legislation after National Treasury Employees Union." William and Mary Law Review 37 (Spring 1996): 979-1043.
  • "Binding Advisory Opinions: A Federal Courts Perspective on the State School Finance Cases." Boston College Law Review 35 (May 1994): 543-568.
  • "The Ideologies of Forum Shopping - Why Doesn't a Conservative Court Protect Defendants?" North Carolina Law Review 71 (March 1993): 649-720.
  • "Federal Common Law and the Role of the Federal Courts in Private Law Adjudication - A (New) Erie Problem?" Symposium. Pace Law Review 12 (Spring 1992): 229-261.
  • "Bright Lines." Wisconsin Law Review 2 (1991): 293-316.
  • "Dealing with Younger Abstention as a Part of Federal Courts Reform - The Role of the Vanishing Proposal." Brigham Young University Law Review 2 (1991): 987-1004.
  • "When Federalism and Separation of Powers Collide - Rethinking Younger Abstention." George Washington Law Review 59 (November 1990): 114-156.
  • "Nonideological Judicial Reform and Its Limits - The Report of the Federal Courts Study Committee." Washington and Lee Law Review 47 (Fall 1990): 973-994.
  • "Has the Supreme Court Confessed Error on the Eleventh Amendment? Revisionist Scholarship and State Immunity." North Carolina Law Review 68 (June 1990): 867-891.
  • "Letting Statutory Tails Wag Constitutional Dogs - Have the Bivens Dissenters Prevailed? Indiana Law Journal 64 (1988-89): 263-299.
  • "Article III as a Fundamental Value -- The Demise of Northern Pipeline and Its Implications for Congressional Power." Ohio State Law Journal 49 (Winter 1988): 55-94.
  • "The Tenth Amendment Is Dead. Long Live the Eleventh!" Intergovernmental Perspective 13, no. 1 (Winter 1987): 26-30.
  • "Municipal Liability under Section 1983 and the Ambiguities of Burger Court Federalism: A Comment on City of Oklahoma City v. Tuttle and Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati -- The 'Official' Policy Cases." Boston College Law Review 27 (September 1986): 883-909.
  • "Beyond Pennhurst: Protective Jurisdiction, the Eleventh Amendment, and the Power of Congress to Enlarge Federal Jurisdiction in Response to the Burger Court." Virginia Law Review 71 (April 1985): 343-402.
  • "Of Activism and Erie: The Implication Doctrine's Implications for the Nature and Role of Federal Courts." Iowa Law Review 69 (March 1984): 617-654.
  • "Pennhurst as a Source of Defenses for State and Local Governments." Catholic University Law Review 31 (1982): 449-464.
  • "The Courts and Grant Reform: A Time for Action." Intergovernmental Perspective 7, no. 4 (Fall 1981): 6-12.
  • "Federal Funds and Federal Courts - Community Development Litigation as a Testing Ground for the New Law of Standing." Boston College Law Review 21 (March 1980): 525-556.
  • "An Introduction to the Community Development Litigation and Its Impact." In Awakening the Slumbering Giant: Intergovernmental Relations and Federal Grant Laws: A Report of and Papers from ACIR's Conference on Federal Grant Law, held December 12, 1979 in Washington, D.C., 43-47. Washington, D.C.: Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, 1980.
  • "Federal Funds and National Supremacy: The Role of State Legislatures in Federal Grant Programs." American University Law Review 28 (Spring 1979): 279-313.
  • With James M. Howell. "The Revenue Sharing Gauntlet: Fiscal Federalism at the Crossroads." National Civic Review 68 (November 1979): 535-541.
  • Review of Environmental and Land Controls Legislation, by Daniel R. Mandelker. Environmental Affairs 6 (1978): 449-453.
  • "Beyond the New Federalism: Revenue Sharing in Perspective." Harvard Journal on Legislation 15 (December 1977): 1-73.
  • "State Land Use Laws and Regional Institutions." Environmental Affairs 4 (1975): 393-425.
  • "Home Rule in Massachusetts: Municipal Freedom and Legislative Control." Massachusetts Law Quarterly 58, no. 1 (March 1973): 29-57.
  • "DeGaulle's Republic and the Rule of Law: Judicial Review and the Conseil d'Etat." Boston University Law Review 46 (1966): 462-492.
  • Review of Equality, by Robert L. Carter, Dorothy Kenyon, Peter Marcuse, and Loren Miller. Boston University Law Review 45 (Fall 1965): 596-600.