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Leslie C. Griffin
Leslie C. Griffin

Dr. Leslie C. Griffin is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Boyd School of Law. Prof. Griffin, who teaches constitutional law and bioethics, is known for her interdisciplinary work in law and religion. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. She is author of five editions of the Foundation Press casebook, Law and Religion: Cases and Materials; co-author, with Joan H. Krause, of Practicing Bioethics Law; co-author, with Marci A. Hamilton, of Learning Constitutional Law, and editor of Law and Religion: Cases in Context. She is also the author of numerous articles and book chapters about law, religion, politics and ethics. Her most recent article, What Did Those Sixteen Justices Say?, 58 Willamette L. Rev. 163 (2022), is about the sixteen Catholics who have been Justices on the Supreme Court.

Prof. Griffin has written numerous briefs defending employees’ civil rights. She is a critic of the ministerial exception, and wrote amicus briefs in Hosanna-Tabor and Our Lady of Guadalupe School arguing that neither employee was a minister.

Before moving to UNLV, Griffin was the Larry and Joanne Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics at the University of Houston Law Center, and a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. Prof. Griffin clerked for the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and was an assistant counsel in the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates professional misconduct by federal prosecutors. Before law school, she was a professor in the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame.

Columns by Leslie C. Griffin
Permalink to How Do YOU Think About the Right to Vote?How Do YOU Think About the Right to Vote?
How Do YOU Think About the Right to Vote?

UNLV Boyd School of Law professor Leslie C. Griffin comments on the US Supreme Court’s 5–4 decision in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, in which the Court upheld the legality of Ohio’s voter list maintenance procedure. Griffin explains some of the key points made in each of the four opinions and shares a deeply personal story about how she came to understand how seemingly innocuous list-maintenance laws like the one in this case disproportionately affect minorities, low-income people, the disabled, the homeless, and veterans—just as Justice Sotomayor described in her separate dissent.

Permalink to Scandal at Notre DameScandal at Notre Dame
Scandal at Notre Dame

Justia guest columnist, UNLV law professor, and visiting UC Irvine law professor Leslie Griffin comments on the recent controversy regarding Notre Dame, of which she is an alumna. Professor Griffin comments on Notre Dame’s arguments, which include one relating to the Catholic concept of scandal, and another that postulates that whenever Notre Dame signs the form objecting to contraception, the complaint triggers the provision of free objectionable coverage to Notre Dame’s employees in a manner contrary to its beliefs. Notre Dame also argues that by signing the objection, it facilitates contraception, and, by doing so, it will lead many to think that Notre Dame condones these services, and hence undermines its role, as a Catholic educational institution, to educate others on a matter of religious and moral significance. Griffin offers strong counterarguments, both logical and legal, to Notre Dame’s contentions.

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