Non-Resident Senior Scholar
American University School of Public Affairs
Professor, Department of Justice, Law and Society
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Daniel L. Dreisbach is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C.  He earned a D.Phil. degree from Oxford University and a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia.  Following law school, he served as a judicial clerk for Circuit Judge Robert F. Chapman of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and for two years he practiced public interest law, specializing in civil and religious liberties.  Professor Dreisbach’s research interests include American constitutional law and history; church-state relations; and the intersection of religion, politics, and law in American public life.  He has authored or edited ten books, including Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State (New York University Press, 2002), Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (Oxford University Press, 2017), and The Sacred Rights of Conscience (Liberty Fund, 2009)(co-editor).  He has published numerous book chapters, reviews, and articles in scholarly journals, including American Journal of Legal History, Baylor Law Review, Constitutional Commentary, Emory Law Journal, Politics and Religion, Journal of Church and State, and William and Mary Quarterly.  He has contributed essays to leading reference works such as The Cambridge History of Religions in America (2012) and Oxford Handbook on Church and State in the United States (2010).  He is a past recipient of American University’s highest faculty award, “Scholar/Teacher of the Year.”