Professor Jonathan H. Adler — Rethinking Regulation for a Changing World
When Jonathan H. Adler arrived at William & Mary Law School in 2025 as the Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law, he brought a reputation as one of the nation’s most influential voices in debates over the proper scope of regulation, the meaning of statutory text, and the future of environmental governance.
And it didn’t take long for the expertise-seeking press to find him in his new location.
In between unpacking at home and office last summer, the media appearances came in short order. On, July 5, for instance, he was quoted in a Washington Post story about Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's emergence as a strong voice on an unusually fractious U.S. Supreme Court.
Three days later, he was in Texas as one of several experts participating in a review of the 2024-25 U.S. Supreme Court term. The livestreamed event was held by the National Constitution Center and the Center on the Structural Constitution at Texas A&M University School of Law.
The next day, in “Supreme Court Order Creates Chaos for Federal Worker Litigation,” Bloomberg News quoted Adler on the U.S. Supreme Court allowing the president to move forward with sweeping plans to overhaul the federal government.
This was followed by a Bloomberg Law Podcast, “Birthright Citizenship Order Blocked,” in which Adler discussed the U.S. Supreme Court allowing President Trump to begin massive layoffs and a judge blocking Trump's birthright citizenship order.
And on July 11, Adler was quoted in a Newsweek story, “Birthright Citizenship Faces Supreme Court Climax.”
And so forth.
Adler’s career has long bridged rigorous scholarship and real-world impact. After graduating magna cum laude from Yale, he worked for the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) before deciding to attend law school at night while continuing to work at CEI. Earning his J.D. summa cum laude from George Mason University, he then clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before turning to academia full time.
Prior to joining William & Mary, he served as the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University and founded the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law—an effort that quickly became known for fostering high-level research and interdisciplinary dialogue.
With prolific scholarly output, Adler has written or edited seven books, including “Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution” (Palgrave, 2023), “Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane” (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), “Business and the Roberts Court” (Oxford University Press, 2016) and “Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform” (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in the Harvard Environmental Law Review, Yale Journal on Regulation, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, to name just a few. Congress has relied on his expertise more than a dozen times in hearings, and his work has earned citations from the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study ranked him the seventh most cited legal scholar in administrative and environmental law across a five‑year span.
Adler’s recent academic articles include, among others, “Climate Liberalism and Decarbonization” in the Iowa Law Review, a review of Thomas W. Merrill, “The Chevron Doctrine: Its Rise and Fall, and the Future of the Administrative State” in Journal of Economic Literature, and “Climate Change and Constitutional Overreach” in the Drake Law Review.
Beyond his scholarship, he is also a public intellectual who welcomes debate. As a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the widely read legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy, he brings careful reasoning and a commitment to intellectual pluralism to contemporary legal controversies.
Adler’s influence extends into public service as well. He is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center, was elected to the American Law Institute in 2018, and helped co‑found Checks and Balances—a group dedicated to constitutional principles and the rule of law. In 2024, he was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, contributing to efforts to improve federal regulatory processes.
At William & Mary Law, Adler has already provided strong participation in two signature annual events, the Supreme Court Preview and the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. He has also delivered past lectures to the Center for the Study of Law and Markets and participated in the annual Koch Administrative Law Forum.
As he finishes his first year at William & Mary, expect to hear more from him.