Quinn Yeargain
1855 Professor of the Law of Democracy and Associate Professor of Law | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Professor Yeargain’s scholarship is organized around the relationship between democracy and legal developments.
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Biography
Quinn Yeargain (they/he) is an Associate Professor of Law and the 1855 Professor of the Law of Democracy at the Michigan State University College of Law, and teaches courses in constitutional and criminal law. Prior to joining the faculty at Michigan State, Professor Yeargain taught at the Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. They graduated from the Emory University School of Law and subsequently clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for Judge Lanier Anderson.
Professor Yeargain’s scholarship is organized around the relationship between democracy and legal developments. Their research focuses specifically on institutional changes in state constitutions through amendments, the use of democracy to expand and contract state constitutional rights and liberties, and the effect of democracy on the operation of the carceral state. Professor Yeargain is a co-author of State Constitutions: Institutions, Powers, and Rights, a state constitutional law casebook soon to be published by West Academic Publishing.
Outside of the classroom, Professor Yeargain is a regular guest on state and national television and radio programs and frequently comments on current events in news outlets, including the Brennan Center’s State Courts Report and Bolts. Professor Yeargain regularly files amicus briefs on matters relating to state constitutional law and has served as a consultant in redistricting litigation.
Areas of Expertise (2)
State Constitutional and Criminal Law
Democracy and Legal Developments
Education (2)
Emory University School of Law: J.D.
University of Central Florida: B.A.
Links (2)
News (5)
Supreme Court petition targets ‘relic of Jim Crow’ in Georgia
E&E News online
2024-05-17
Having representation is especially important for communities of color in the South that have been uniquely affected by decades or even centuries of environmental racism, said Quinn Yeargain, an assistant law professor at Widener University.
If Florida’s abortion rights amendment passes, courts will weigh parental consent question
PolitiFact online
2024-05-01
"Minors do not have the same constitutional rights as adults do, and the Florida Constitution recognizes this in the abortion context in its provision that expressly allows the Legislature to require parental notification," said Quinn Yeargain, a Widener University assistant law professor and expert on state constitutional law.
Red state AGs keep trying to kill ballot measures by a thousand cuts
Ohio Capital Journal online
2024-03-06
“It really should be more mechanical power to certify this and neutrally evaluate it,” explained Quinn Yeargain, a professor of state constitutional law at Widener University and frequent Bolts contributor. “They’re putting a thumb on the scale and pushing, I think, to expand the understanding of their power.”
Wisconsin Adopts New Legislative Maps, Giving Democrats Chance to Win State
The Guardian online
2024-02-19
“I am extremely skeptical of this idea that there is a good basis for challenging the law, really on any grounds,” said Quinn Yeargain, a legal scholar who focuses on state constitutional law. “I’m as much of a partisan Democrat and progressive as anybody else is, but being intellectually honest about what’s going on here is also important.”
Pa. Supreme Court returns Medicaid-funded abortion case to lower court
TribLIVE online
2024-01-29
“The court is clearly signaling what it wants the Commonwealth Court to do,” said Widener University constitutional law Professor Quinn Yeargain. “The court wants the Commonwealth Court to strike down this law.”
Event Appearances (3)
“Moore v. Harper and State Systems of Separated Powers”
September 2024 | State Law and Federal Elections Conference
“Big Box Carceralism”
July 2024 | CrimFest
“Big Box Carceralism”
June 2024 | CrimWIP Summer Series
Journal Articles (5)
State Constitutions in the Woods
Pace Environmental Law Review2024 Before the adoption of environmental rights provisions beginning in the 1970s, most state constitutions did not contain provisions that protected the natural environment from degradation. Instead, to the contrary, many constitutions-especially in western states-contained policies that have long entrenched carbon-intensive infrastructures and have favored extractive industries. But starting in the early 1900s, a handful of states began amending their constitutions to incorporate environmental policy provisions. These additions helped preserve forested lands by giving state governments the power to respond to uncontrolled forest fires and adopt policies to prevent deforestation. Other amendments established fish and game commissions as constitutional entities, safeguarding them from political influence.
Taking Education "Out of Politics": The Rise of Nonpartisan State Education Governance
Widener Commonwealth Law Review2024 Education is likely the most democratized area of policymaking in the United States. Of the approximately 13,500 public school districts in the United States, the vast majority are elected-and" school board member" is one of the most common elected offices in the country. At the state level, twenty-two states, two territories, and the District of Columbia have elected education officials. The exposure of public-school governance to direct democratic input has, in recent years, created an opening for outside forces to spend [...]
Litigating Trans Rights in the States
Widener Law Commonwealth Research Paper2023 Trans rights are under attack. Across the country, states are banning trans children and adults from gender-affirming care, forcing them into bathrooms and gender-segregated school activities that don’t align with their actual gender, and forcing them to be deadnamed and misgendered in a variety of contexts. While the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on whether the Equal Protection Clause prohibits at least some discrimination on the basis of gender identity, trans advocates have been heartened by the Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County and early wins in federal court that have struck many of these restrictions down. But the failure to challenge these laws with state constitutional claims is a short-sighted strategy. While there are reasonable signs for optimism, whether the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately uphold or strike down these laws remains to be seen.
Shadow Districts
Cardozo Law Review2023 Redistricting disputes--for congressional, state legislative, and local districts--have proven all-consuming in politics. Litigation over the legality of districts, under both federal and state law, is near constant when decennial redistricting occurs. But largely omitted from redistricting litigation and scholarship, however, are the districts drawn to elect members of statewide boards. These boards have outsized authority over some of the most salient disputes in politics today, with state boards of education setting policies for what can be taught in classrooms and how LGBT students are treated by the public education system, public utility commissions adopting policies for renewable energy production and decarbonization, and executive councils playing a key role in checking the powers of state governors.
Administrative Capacity in Direct Democracy
UC Davis Law Review2023 Voters have little direct say over regulation in the United States. True, Congress is elected by the public to pass laws that set the contours of what kind of policies executive agencies can set,'and the agencies are presumably held accountable vis-a-vis the public's election of the President. 2 As such, voters can certainly vote for presidential or congressional candidates who promise certain types of regulatory policies, 3 or to create or abolish certain regulatory agencies4-but these claims to democratic control are derivative at best.
