Biography
Steven K. Green is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated
Professor of History and Religious Studies at Willamette University where he
teaches courses in Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Legal History,
Jurisprudence, and Education Law in the College of Law, and Legal History
and American Religious History in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Professor Green joined the Willamette faculty in August 2001, after serving for
10 years as legal director and special counsel for Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, a Washington, DC, public interest
organization that concentrates on First Amendment issues. Professor Green
has extensive litigation and appellate experience in First Amendment law
involving issues such as school prayer, public funding of religious institutions,
public religious displays, religious discrimination, religious free exercise, and
freedom of speech. He has participated in several cases before the U.S.
Supreme Court, including Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), the Cleveland
school vouchers case; Mitchell v. Helms (2000), authorizing state-paid
computers and educational equipment to religious schools; and Santa Fe Ind.
Sch. Dist. v. Doe (2000), striking prayer at public school football games. He
has authored and collaborated on more than 25 amicus curiae (friend-of-the-
court) briefs at the U.S. Supreme Court, most recently in Carson v. Makin
(2022), Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), Espinoza v. Montana
Department of Revenue (2019), American Legion v. American Humanist
Association (2019), Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights
Commission (2018), Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (2017), and Hobby
Lobby v. Burwell (2014).
Professor Green is a widely sought speaker at national conferences and a
prolific author whose writings have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and
lower courts. He is the author of six books, the most recent being Separating
Church and State: A History (Cornell University Press, 2022). He is the
author of more than 50 law review articles and book chapters, appearing in
the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Cornell Law Review, Notre Dame
Law Review, Emory Law Journal, and Boston College Law Review, among
others. Green’s latest book, The Grand Collaboration: Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, and the Invention of American Religious Freedom, will be
published by University of Virginia Press in 2024.