Michael Moreland, JD, PhD 
University Professor of Law and Religion; Director, Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy | Charles Widger School of Law | Villanova University
Villanova, PA, UNITED STATES
Michael Moreland, JD, PhD, is an expert in the areas of law and religion, free speech, constitutional law and bioethics.
Areas of Expertise (8)
Biography
Professor Moreland is an expert on topics related to law and religion, free speech, constitutional law, tort law, and bioethics. Moreland previously served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy at the White House under President George W. Bush, where he worked on a range of legal policy issues, including criminal justice, immigration, civil rights and liability reform.
Education (4)
University of Michigan Law School: JD
Boston College: PhD
Boston College: MA
University of Notre Dame: BA
Affiliations (5)
- AALS Law and Religion Section
- Witherspoon Institute (Princeton, NJ) Task Force on Conscience Protection
- Saint Thomas More Society of Philadelphia, Board of Governors
- Federalist Society, Religious Liberties Practice Group Executive Committee
- Peer Reviewer: Cambridge University Press, Harvard University Press, Journal of Law and Religion, Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Theological Studies
Select Media Appearances (7)
Supreme Court Inaction Could Open New Front in Gerrymandering War
Bloomberg
2018-02-06
State courts could be a new battleground for groups challenging voter maps after the U.S. Supreme Court opted against intervening in a partisan gerrymandering fight in Pennsylvania … Decisions from state Supreme Courts based on state constitutions are typically insulated from U.S. Supreme Court review, Michael Moreland, a constitutional scholar at Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law in Villanova, Pa., told Bloomberg Law.
SCOTUS debates same-sex wedding cake case
WHYY's Radio Times
2017-12-12
The Supreme Court heard arguments last week in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case. This is the case involving a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding citing his moral objections to gay marriage and his First Amendment rights … We’ll talk about the legal questions being debated, the oral arguments and the potential ramifications with Villanova University law professor Michael Moreland and Delaware Law School professor John Culhane.
Gay Rights, Religious Freedom At Issue In 'Masterpiece Cakeshop' Supreme Court Arguments
NPR's On Point
2017-12-06
The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in the case of the baker who wouldn’t make a wedding cake for a gay couple — Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The court's ruling could change the boundaries of free speech and have huge ramifications for religion and gay rights … And from Philadelphia, Michael Moreland joins us. He’s professor of law and religion and director of the McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova University.
SCOTUS Rules In Favor Of Trinity Lutheran In Religious Liberty Case JOSHUA GILL
The Daily Caller
2017-06-26
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church Monday, deciding that refusal to grant a public benefit to the church violates the First Amendment. Trinity Lutheran Church sued the Missouri Department of Natural Resources over the department’s refusal to award Trinity a publicly available grant to resurface its school playground. ... While the Court’s ruling is straightforward, Michael Moreland, Professor of Law and Religion at Villanova University, said that the balance of opinion among the justices was notable, showing that the majority supports a broad interpretation of religious liberty.
Supreme Court pick wins applause from religious freedom advocates
Catholic News Agency
2017-02-01
Pro-life leaders and religious freedom advocates hailed President Trump’s choice of Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court vacancy on Tuesday. Professor Michael Moreland, a visiting law professor at the University of Notre Dame, called the judge “a superb nominee to the Supreme Court” and added that “he is a brilliant and careful jurist, and he has an especially strong record in cases involving religious freedom.”
Report: hundreds of US hospitals follow Catholic rules on reproductive care
The Guardian
2016-05-05
When she was 22 weeks pregnant, Mindy Swank began to bleed. She had known for nearly two weeks that she was miscarrying – and in such a way that she was at risk for infection. ... But Michael Moreland, a bioethicist at Villanova University, has said that the line between what counts as abortion and what counts as an ethical procedure to save the life of the mother is not so clear. “When a baby is in medical distress, and the mother is in medical distress, and the directives point to an imperative to protect both human lives, those are the really difficult cases that hospital ethics committees grapple with,” he said.
President Obama Is Criticized Over Funeral for Scalia
The New York Times
2016-02-18
The White House on Thursday tried to fend off criticism of President Obama’s decision not to attend the funeral this weekend of Justice Antonin Scalia, but even some administration allies lamented the move as a missed opportunity to ease the partisan warfare that has followed the justice’s death. ... Michael Moreland, a law professor at Villanova University who is Catholic and was on the White House staff of Mr. Bush, said both sides had valid points.
The event on Friday at the Supreme Court is the more appropriate place for a presidential visit, he said, but Mr. Obama’s attendance at the funeral “could have been a nice occasion for reducing polarization of D.C.’s political culture.”
Select Academic Articles (5)
Alireza Bagheri
Forthcoming
Robert Cochran, Zachary Calo
2017
Michael Moreland
2014
Michael Moreland, John Paris, SJ, and Michael Schreiber
2011
Michael Moreland, Robert Maranto, Tom Lansford, Jeremy Johnson
2009
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