Meet the Faculty

Daniel O. Conkle

• Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law, School of Law—Bloomington
• Adjunct Professor, Department of Religious Studies

Education

• J.D. at Ohio State University, 1979

Contact Information

Background

• Leon H. Wallace Teaching Award
• Two-time recipient of the Gavel Award for outstanding contributions to the graduating law school class
• Six-time recipient of law school faculty fellowships for outstanding scholarship
• Robert H. McKinney Professorship
• Research Editor, Ohio State Law Journal
• Clerk, Hon. Edward Allen Tamm, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1979-80
• Associate, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1980-83
• Member, Order of the Coif

A member of the IU faculty since 1983, I teach Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, and Law and Religion. My research addresses constitutional law and theory, religious liberty, and the role of religion in American law, politics, and public life.

As a teacher and scholar of American constitutional law and theory, I am especially interested in issues of religious liberty and related questions of law, ethics, and public policy. I have devoted considerable attention to legal and theoretical questions surrounding the religion clauses of the First Amendment. This constitutional language prohibits the "establishment of religion" even as it protects religious "free exercise." I have published numerous articles on this topic, as well as a book: Constitutional Law: The Religion Clauses (Foundation Press, 2003). I also have published articles addressing non-constitutional, normative questions concerning the role of religion in American politics and public life.

In addition to my law school appointment, I am an adjunct professor of religious studies and a Nelson Poynter Scholar at the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions.

Research Interests

• Religious liberty
• Religion and law
• The role of religion in American politics and public life

Courses Recently Taught

• Constitutional Law I (general survey)
• Constitutional Law II (First Amendment)
• Law and Religion

Publication Highlights

Books

Constitutional Law: The Religion Clauses (Foundation Press, 2003)

Articles

"Religion, Politics, and the 2000 Presidential Election: A Selective Survey and Tentative Appraisal," 77 Indiana Law Journal 247 (2002)

"The Free Exercise Clause: How Redundant, and Why?," 33 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 95 (2001)

"The Path of American Religious Liberty: From the Original Theology to Formal Neutrality and an Uncertain Future," 75 Indiana Law Journal 1 (2000)

"Secular Fundamentalism, Religious Fundamentalism, and the Search for Truth in Contemporary America," 12 Journal of Law and Religion 337 (1995-96); republished in Law and Religion: A Critical Anthology, at 317 (Stephen M. Feldman, ed.; New York University Press, 2000)

"Professing Professionals: Christian Pilots on the River of Law," 38 Catholic Lawyer 151 (1998); republished in Religion, Morality and the Professions in America, at 9 (Indiana University Poynter Center Monograph Series, 1999)

"Congressional Alternatives in the Wake of City of Boerne v. Flores: The (Limited) Role of Congress in Protecting Religious Freedom from State and Local Infringement," 20 University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Journal 633 (1998)

"Religiously Devout Judges: Issues of Personal Integrity and Public Benefit," 81 Marquette Law Review 523 (1998)