Steven Macias

Prior to arriving at USD in 2021, Steven Macias held the position of Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Law at Southern Illinois University School of Law. He previously held visiting appointments at the University of Oregon School of Law and California Western School of Law in San Diego. Professor Macias received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and graduate degrees in law and history from the University of California, Berkeley. He also studied law in the UK at University College London where he received his LL.M. in Legal Theory and History.

Dean Macias has taught a variety of courses, including Federal Courts and Remedies, Legislation, Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Privacy, and Legal History.

Professor Macias's primary research centers on the history of legal thought in the early American republic. His book, Legal Science in the Early Republic: The Origins of American Legal Thought and Education, was published by Lexington/Rowman & Littlefield in 2016.

Citations listed below are presented in a standardized, modified format for display purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the preferred style and conventions of the faculty member or discipline.

Macias, Steven. Utilitarian Constitutionalism: A Comparison of Bentham & Madison, 11 NYU J.L. & Liberty 1028 (2018) .
Macias, Steven. Constitutional Implications of Vaccine Exemption Laws, 37 J. Legal Med. 463 (2017).
Macias, Steven. Getting Schooled on Sex and Gender, Hum. Rts. (Ill. St. B. Ass'n Sec. on Human Rts. L. Newsl.), Feb. 2016, at 4.
Macias, Steven. Legal Science in the Early Republic: The Origins of American Legal Thought and Education (2016).
Macias, Steven. State Action Doctrine and Public Administration, in Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance 5755 (Ali Farazmand ed., 2018).
Macias, Steven. Legal Thought from Blackstone to Kent and Story, in A Companion to American Legal History 484 (Sally Hadden & Alfred L. Brophy eds., 2013).
Macias, Steven. Survey of Illinois Law: Statutory Interpretation, 37 S. Ill. U. L.J. 845 (2013).
Macias, Steven. Adolescent Identity Versus the First Amendment: Sexuality and Speech Rights in the Public Schools, 49 San Diego L. Rev. 791 (2012).
Macias, Steven. Book Review, 62 J. Legal Educ. 367 (2012) (reviewing Ellen Holmes Pearson, Remaking Custom: Law and Identity in the Early American Republic (2011)).
Macias, Steven. Book Review, 28 Law & Hist. Rev. 1097 (2010) (reviewing Peter Charles Hoffer, A Nation of Laws: America's Imperfect Pursuit of Justice (2010)).
Macias, Steven. Book Review, 28 Law & Hist. Rev. 567 (2010) (reviewing The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Roger K. Newman ed., 2009)).
Macias, Steven. The Huck Finn Syndrome in History and Theory: The Origins of Family Privacy, 12 J.L. & Fam. Stud. 87 (2010).
Macias, Steven. Viewing Law as Cultural Politics in the Promotion of Gay Equality, 19 Tul. J. L. & Sexuality 175 (2010).
Macias, Steven. Rorty, Pragmatism, and Gaylaw: A Eulogy, a Celebration, and a Triumph, 77 UMKC L. Rev. 85 (2008).

Macias, Steven, Constitutional Equity in Judicial Elections. Presented at the Central States Law School Association 2017 Scholarship Conference, Carbondale, IL. (October 2017)
Macias, Steven, Confusion as a Justification for Inequality. Presented at the Tulane University Law School, New Orleans, LA. (November 2014)
Macias, Steven, Roe or Brown?: Analogizing Marriage Equality. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Schools, New York, NY. (January 2014)
Macias, Steven, Federal Enclave Jurisdiction: A Constitutional History. Presented at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS), Palm Beach, FL. (August 2013)
Macias, Steven, The Law of the Men's Room. Presented at the Fourteenth Annual Conference for the Association of the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, Texas Wesleyan Law School (March 2012)
Macias, Steven, A Knickerbocker on the Bench: Gulian C. Verplanck's Legal Narratives. Presented at the International Conference for the Study of Narrative, Washington University, St. Louis, MO. (April 2011)
Macias, Steven, Adolescent Identity v. The First Amendment: Race, Sexuality and Hate Speech in the Public Schools. Presented at the LatCrit XV Conference, University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Denver, CO. (October 2010)
Macias, Steven, The First Amendment as a Heteronormative Socializer. Presented at the Critical Legal Studies Conference, University of Idaho College of Law, Moscow, ID. (September 2010)
Macias, Steven, Adolescent Identity v. The First Amendment: Race, Sexuality and Hate Speech in the Public Schools. Presented at the Third National People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, NJ. (September 2010)
Macias, Steven, Sexuality in the Public Schools: Overcoming the Double Standard. Presented at the LatCrit XIV Conference, Junior Faculty Development Workshop, American University College of Law, Washington, DC. (October 2009)
Macias, Steven, Sexuality in the Public Schools: Overcoming the Double Standard. Presented at the National LGBT Bar Association Junior Scholars Forum, Brooklyn, NY. (September 2009)
Macias, Steven, Law Lectures and the Dissemination of Legal Ideas, 1800-1850. Presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, Sprinfield, IL. (July 2009)
Macias, Steven, Uselessness in Early American Legal Culture: The Beauty and Seriousness of Legal Science. Presented at the Twelfth Annual Conference for the Association of the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA. (April 2009)
Macias, Steven, The Utilitarian Influence on American Legal Science, c. 1800-1850. Presented at the Tenth Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies, UC Berkeley School of Law & Kadish Center for Morality, Law and Public Affairs, Berkeley, CA. (September 2008)
Macias, Steven, The Effect of Political Economy on the Science of Law in the Early Republic, 1800-1850. Presented at the Policy History Conference, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO. (June 2008)
Macias, Steven, Mill's Influence on Nineteenth-Century American Thought. Presented at the John Stuart Mill Bicentennial Conference (Ninth Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies), University College London, London, UK. (April 2006)

Contact Us