Law professor to deliver talk on ‘Pathological Policing and Constitutional Entrenchment’ 

Anthony O’Rourke, J.D., of the University at Buffalo School of Law, will examine the police defunding movement in an address, “Pathological Policing and Constitutional Entrenchment,” on Constitution Day for the American Democracy Project.

The virtual lecture by O’Rourke, who is director of the Advocacy Institute and the Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad Professor of Civil Justice at UB, will be presented on Thursday, Sept. 17, from 4 to 5 p.m.

Registration via a Google form is required for the event. Zoom login information will be sent after the registration has been submitted.

“Michelle Obama stated in June that George Floyd died as a direct result of decades of unaddressed prejudice and mayors around the United States, including Buffalo, are implementing changes within their town’s police force and establishing new directives about arrests and searches,” said Department of Communication Assistant Professor Angela McGowan-Kirsch.

“We thought it would be enlightening to have someone with an expertise in police defunding and its connection to U.S. and state constitutions speak with the campus community about this important issue,” added Dr. McGowan, who serves as chair of Fredonia’s American Democracy Project.

“We thought it would be enlightening to have someone with an expertise in police defunding and its connection to U.S. and state constitutions speak with the campus community about this important issue.” - Dr. Angela McGowan-Kirsch, chair, American Democracy Project

In his remarks, O’Rourke will also discuss the problems that may result from the push to defund police and provide a constitutional hook that touches on criminal procedures, such as stop-and-frisk and procedural justice.

Criminal Justice Assistant Professor Jessica Finkeldey, an ADP committee member, said O'Rourke will connect the topic of policing to the Constitution. “We are pleased that O'Rourke will share his expertise on such a timely topic.”

O’Rourke teaches and writes on the intersections of criminal law and procedure, legislation, constitutional law and legal theory. His scholarship draws on work in the social sciences and legal philosophy to identify links between legal doctrine and the institutional arrangements that structure legal decision-making.

Writings by O’Rourke have been published in the Michigan Law Review, the Wisconsin Law Review, the Georgia Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, and other specialty journals.

From 2017 to 2019, O'Rourke was an Assistant Federal Defender for the Federal Defenders of New York while on a leave of absence from the law school. He continues to litigate pro bono cases at the trial and appellate levels.

O’Rourke received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar. He clerked for Judge Raymond C. Fisher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Louis H. Pollak of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Philadelphia. Prior to joining the University at Buffalo School of Law faculty, O’Rourke was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP, and an associate-in-law at Columbia Law School. Before law school, he worked at the International Monetary Fund.

O’Rourke received his B.A. with high honors from the University of Michigan, where he majored in economics and philosophy.