Visiting Professor, Georgetown University Law Center; Senior Vice President, Campaign Legal Center
Paul M. Smith is a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a Senior Vice President at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the strong enforcement of campaign finance laws. Smith previously served as a partner in the law firm of Jenner & Block, where he was chair of the firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court Practice and co-chair of the firm’s Election Law and Redistricting Practice.
Smith has four decades of experience litigating a wide range of cases. He has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court 21 times and secured numerous victories, including in the important cases advancing civil liberties and civil rights, Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case, and Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, which established First Amendment rights of those who produce and sell video games.
In addition, Smith has argued several voting rights cases at the Supreme Court, including Vieth v. Jubelirer and Gill v. Whitford, involving partisan gerrymandering, LULAC v. Perry, involving the legality of Texas’s mid-decade redrawing of congressional districts and Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, involving the constitutionality of a voter identification law. Smith attended Amherst College and Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal.
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