Carolyn Shapiro

Carolyn Shapiro

Co-Director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States, Professor of Law

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Professor Shapiro is the founder and co-director of Chicago-Kent's Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States (ISCOTUS). Her scholarship is largely focused on the institutions of our constitutional democracy, in particular the Supreme Court, and how those institutions interact, and has appeared in numerous law reviews. She teaches classes in constitutional law, legislation and statutory interpretation, and public interest law and policy. She directs Chicago-Kent's Public Interest Certificate Program and is also the faculty director of the Constitutional Democracy Project, a civic education project that provides programs, professional development, and educational materials to high school and middle school teachers and students. In April 2023, she delivered the Keynote Address at the 31st Annual Ira C. Rothberger Conference at the University of Colorado Law School.

Professor Shapiro is a frequent guest and commentator in the media. She's appeared on MSNBC, National Public Radio, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, Sky News Daily Podcast, NBC News Now, CBC Radio, Strict Scrutiny Podcast, and many Chicago news outlets. Her commentary has been featured in the Washington Post, The Hill, CNN, and SCOTUSblog, among other places, and she has been quoted in numerous news articles in publications ranging from Reuters to NBCNews to the Chicago Tribune to Salon.com to Bloomberg. More recent media appearances can be found at the bottom of this page.

From 2014 through mid-2016, Professor Shapiro served as Illinois solicitor general while on leave from Chicago-Kent. She has argued cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the Illinois Appellate Courts, and she maintains a small appellate practice, serving as Of Counsel to Schnapper-Casteras PLLC.

Professor Shapiro is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the Chicago Lawyers' Chapter of the American Constitution Society and the Board of Advisors for the American Constitution Society’s State Attorneys General Project. In June 2017, the Chicago Lawyers’ Chapter of ACS awarded Professor Shapiro the Abner Mikva Award.

Professor Shapiro was a law clerk for then-Chief Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for Justice Stephen G. Breyer of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to coming to Chicago-Kent in 2003, she worked as an associate with Miner, Barnhill & Galland, where she handled plaintiff civil rights cases, and as a Skadden Fellow with the National Center on Poverty Law.

She earned a B.A. with general and special honors in English from the University of Chicago, an M.A. from the University of Chicago Harris Graduate School of Public Policy, and a J.D. (high honors) from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was articles editor of the University of Chicago Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

Education

J.D., University of Chicago Law School
M.A., University of Chicago, Harris Graduate School of Public Policy
B.A., University of Chicago

Publications

Professor Shapiro's published works can be found on her SSRN page.

Affiliations

J.D. Certificate Program in Public Interest Law

Contact Information

Media Appearances

Thomas' Dissent in Gun Case Highlights Failings of Originalism, Says Chicago-Kent Professor Carolyn Shapiro

“This is a court that claims to be an originalist court and, if nothing else, these opinions establish that originalism is not a straightforward approach and does not lead to greater certainty, despite the claims that originalists make,” said Carolyn Shapiro, the founder of Chicago-Kent College of Law's Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States. Originalism “can lead to different results depending on who is doing the analysis," she said, continuing: “It just simply does not provide the certainty that originalists claim.”

Business Insider

Recordings Show Alito Doesn't Think of Himself as 'Neutral Umpire' in Culture Wars, Says Chicago-Kent Professor Carolyn Shapiro

Carolyn Shapiro, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, said Alito’s comments that conservative Christians are under attack from liberals in a culture war that grips the United States provide further evidence that he does not necessarily see himself as a “neutral umpire” in the conflict. “I think he sees himself as a partisan in this fight,” she added.

NBC News

Chicago-Kent Law Professor Carolyn Shapiro: Bring Chicago Home Is a Legal Ballot Measure

The Bring Chicago Home ballot measure just survived a legal challenge — and unless the Illinois Supreme Court orders otherwise, the question will remain on the ballot and the Chicago Board of Elections will count each vote cast on March 19. The measure itself is straightforward, if wordy. It restructures the real estate transfer tax from a flat tax to a progressive tax in order to raise funds to address homelessness. And because part of that restructuring involves increasing the transfer tax on high-priced real estate, the Illinois Municipal Code requires voter approval, which is what Bring Chicago Home is seeking.

Chicago Tribune