Professor Clark Delivers 2018 Katz Memorial Lecture

Professor J. Stephen Clark delivered the 4th Annual Katheryn D. Katz ’70 Memorial Lecture, titled "Progressively Incorrect: A Gay Liberationist Critique in the Social Justice Era," on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, at Albany Law School.

His talk examined some possible tensions between gay liberation and contemporary social justice advocacy as it relates to social and economic equality, free expression, and sexual autonomy.

The Katheryn D. Katz ’70 Lecture Series was established in 2014 to focus on the family law topics that Professor Katz made central to her teaching, including domestic violence, gender and the law, children and the law, reproductive rights, and inequality. Previous Katz lectures were delivered by Professors Melissa Breger (2015), Donna Young (2016), and Mary A. Lynch (2017).

Professor Clark's research interests include constitutional law, conflict of laws, employment discrimination, and LGBT rights. His recent articles include "Senators Can't Be Choosers: Senate Moratoriums on Supreme Court Nominations and the Separation of Powers," forthcoming in the Kentucky Law Journal; "President-Shopping for a New Scalia: The Illegitimacy of 'McConnell Majorities' in Supreme Court Decision-Making" in the Albany Law Review; "But-for Sex: Equal Protection and the Individual Opportunity to Marry One's Chosen Partner Without Regard to Sex" in the San Diego Law Review; and "Conflicts Originalism: The 'Original Content' of the Full Faith and Credit Clause and the Choice of Marriage Law" in the West Virginia Law Review.

In 2015, Professor Clark and several other constitutional law scholars from around the country filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage. He has been widely quoted in the media on issues related to the Supreme Court and the U.S. Constitution.

Professor Clark joined the Albany Law School faculty in 2000. He was previously in private practice with Winston & Strawn in Chicago, specializing in employment-related appellate litigation; visiting professor at University of Toledo College of Law; law clerk to the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Indiana; and staff assistant to then-Senator Al Gore.

Professor Clark holds a B.A. from the University of Tennessee and a J.D. from Yale Law School.