Jeffrey L. Fisher

Professor of Law and Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School

A leading authority on Supreme Court practice and nationally recognized expert on criminal procedure, Jeffrey L. Fisher’s work at the law school revolves around handling cases in the U.S. Supreme Court.  He has argued over forty cases in the Court, on issues ranging from criminal procedure to maritime law to civil and human rights.

Professor Fisher’s successes include the landmark cases of Crawford v. Washington and Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, in which he persuaded the Court to adopt a new approach to the Constitution’s Confrontation Clause; Riley v. California, in which the Court for the first time applied the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches to digital information on smartphones; and Ramos v. Louisiana, which established that the constitutional right to a jury trial requires a unanimous verdict to convict. He has handled other pathmarking cases involving the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury free from racial bias, and the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Professor Fisher was also co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees same-sex couples a right to marry.

In addition to his teaching and practice concerning the Supreme Court, Professor Fisher has published numerous articles on various criminal and constitutional issues, and he currently is writing a treatise on the Confrontation Clause. He also serves as special counsel to the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice group of O’Melveny & Myers. Before joining the Stanford faculty, he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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