- Glenn R. Watson Centennial Chair in Law
- Presidential Professor of Law
Education
A.B., English, Harvard College
J.D., Harvard Law School
About
Professor Joseph Thai teaches and writes about constitutional law and the Supreme Court.
Prof. Thai served as law clerk to Justices John Paul Stevens and Byron White of the Supreme Court and Judge David Ebel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
He frequently engages in civil rights litigation and served on the legal team that successfully challenged Oklahoma’s same-sex marriage ban a year before the Supreme Court upheld marriage equality nationwide.
In 2021, Prof. Thai was elected into the American Law Institute.
At the College of Law, Prof. Thai has served as Associate Dean for Research and Enrichment. Prof. Thai has often been named outstanding professor by students at the law school and once by students university-wide. He is consistently named outstanding dad by his goldendoodle, Bach.
Additional Information
Publications
Powers Rights Wrongs: Interrogating Constitutional History and Law
2021
Kindle
Mark Zuckerberg Still Decides What Users Can Say on Facebook
May 13, 2020
MEDIUM
Facebook’s Speech Code and Policies: How They Suppress Speech and Distort Democratic Deliberation
May 2020
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW
Federal Court Ruling in OKC Case is a Victory for the First Amendment
September 2020
The Oklahoman
Justice Stevens: A Habit of Understanding Before Disagreeing
July 2019
SCOTUSBLOG
The Right to Receive Foreign Speech
2018
OKLAHOMA LAW REVIEW
(Symposium)
FIRST FREEDOMS: A MULTIMEDIA TEXTBOOK ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT
2017
Kindle
Honey (Said Justice Scalia) I Shrunk the Constitution
Feb. 22, 2016
ACSBLOG
2015
St. LOUIS UNIVERSITY LAW JOURNAL
(with Stephen Henderson)
Regulating Drones under the First and Fourth Amendments
2015
WILLIAM & MARY LAW REVIEW
(with Marc Blitz et al.)
Obergefell v. Hodges: A Note to Future Self
June 26, 2015
ACSBLOG
CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS ON POLICING: A MULTIMEDIA TEXTBOOK ON CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
2014
Kindle
May 7, 2014
ACSBLOG
2014
51 ALBERTA LAW REVIEW 907
(with Stephen Henderson)
2013
Aspen
April 9, 2010
New York Times
A Justice of the Greatest Generation
April 9, 2010
Washington Post
April 2010
SCOTUSBLOG
Reprinted in SALON.COM
The Case for Oral Argument in the Supreme Court of Oklahoma
2008
61 OKLAHOMA LAW REVIEW 695
(with Andrew M. Coats)
2008
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Macmillan
2007
THIS I BELIEVE
Aug. 2, 2006
BOSTON GLOBE
2006
92 VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW 501
Is Data Mining Ever a Search Under Justice Stevens's Fourth Amendment
2006
74 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1731