The Rehnquist Center

The Rehnquist Court

The William H. Rehnquist Center on the Constitutional Structures of Government

The William H. Rehnquist Center on the Constitutional Structures of Government was founded in 2006 and encourages academic and public understanding of the constitutional structures of government:

  • the separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government

  • the balance of powers between the federal and state governments 

  • judicial independence

In addition to convening leading scholarly events and discussions, the Rehnquist Center provides opportunities for Arizona students, faculty and members of the public to observe the workings of the U.S. constitutional system up close and to hear from leading state and national officials about the most pressing challenges facing constitutional government in our time.

Featured Event

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The United States Supreme Court with a cherry blossom tree in the foreground

Franz Jantzen, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States


2025 National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars

March 28–29, 2025
Tucson, Arizona

The conference creates a vibrant and useful forum for constitutional scholars to gather and exchange ideas.

2025 Call for Papers
 

Past Conferences
 

Featured Speakers

Ned Foley: Trump's Eligibility for Reelection, What Will the Supreme Court Decide? (2024)

David Strauss: 2019 National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars

2018 Constitution Day Supreme Court Review
 

 

Support the Center

Donations to the Rehnquist Center allow us to promote creative, cutting-edge thinking about the constitutional structures of democratic government. Through our leading national conference and dynamic public engagement events, we are addressing the tremendous strain facing the institutions of constitutional democracy in the U.S. and around the world.

Give Now

Founding Boards of the Rehnquist Center

Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

Sandra Day O’Connor, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Retired

Honorable Earl H. Carroll, Then-U.S. District Judge

Maureen Mahoney, Former clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist and then-partner at Latham & Watkins

Toni Massaro, Then-Dean, University of Arizona College of Law

Michael J. Meehan, Appellate attorney and former clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist

Brian Morris, Former clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist and then-Justice, Montana Supreme Court

James C. Rehnquist, Attorney and partner at Goodwin Procter

Sally M. Rider, Center Director

Honorable Shirley S. Abrahamson, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court

Honorable W. Scott Bales, Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court

Craig Bradley, Robert A. Lucus Professor of Law, Indiana University Law School 

Charles J. Cooper, founder and chair of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC

Richard W. Garnett, Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School

Vicki C. Jackson, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown Law School

Robert A. Katzmann, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Frederick Lambert, Professor of Law, University of California Hastings Law School

Honorable David Levi, Dean, Duke University Law School

Victoria Nourse, Burrus-Bascom Professor, University of Wisconsin Law School

Richard H. Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University Law School

Judith Resnick, Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Robert Schapiro, Associate Dean of Faculty, Professor of Law, Emory Law School

Mark T. Stancil, Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP

Barton H. Thompson Jr., Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law and Co-Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford Law School

Honorable J. Clifford Wallace, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Leadership

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Andrew Coan is Director of the Rehnquist Center and Professor of Law at the University of Arizona. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Stanford Law School. Prior to entering the legal academy, he clerked for Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Coan is the author of two books: Prosecuting the President (Oxford University Press 2019) and Rationing the Constitution (Harvard University Press 2019). His work has also appeared in The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, CNN.com, and USA Today, as well as the nation's leading law journals.