Donald P. Kommers

Professor Donald Kommers has published scores of major articles, including 10 books, mainly in the areas of constitutional law and politics. He is the author of the widely acclaimed book, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, the 3rd edition of which is soon to be published by the Duke University Press. He is the co-author of a major course book in American constitutional law, also in its 3rd edition. His next book, Germany’s Constitutional Odyssey will be published in 2011.

As Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame Law School, he continues to teach advanced courses in American and comparative constitutional law as well as an undergraduate seminar on religion and politics. He earned his B.A. in philosophy and English literature from the Catholic University of America and his advanced degrees (M.A. and Ph.D.) in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also studied law. In 1998, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Germany’s Heidelberg University. He was the fourth American to be so honored by Heidelberg’s law faculty since the end of the Second World War.

Professor Kommers remains active in a number of professional organizations, including the American Political Science Association and the American Bar Association. In addition, he has served as President of the National Conference Group on German Politics, as an advisor to President Carter’s Commission on the Holocaust, as editor of The Review of Politics (for 11 years), and as an editorial advisory board member of several professional journals, including the American Journal of Jurisprudence, American Journal of Comparative Law and the International Journal of Comparative Constitutional Law.