Kendall Thomas

Kendall Thomas is the Nash Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1984. He serves as co-founder and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Culture. Thomas has held visiting appointments as Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Maryland School of Law in 2007, Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School in 1999, and Visiting Professor in Afro-American Studies and American Studies at Princeton University on multiple occasions between 1995 and 2000. He earned a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1983 and a B.F.A. in English Literature and Theater Studies, with honors, from Yale College in 1978.

A scholar of comparative constitutional law and human rights, Thomas's teaching and research interests encompass critical race theory, legal philosophy, feminist legal theory, and law and sexuality. He has edited seminal volumes including Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement (1995, co-edited with Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, and Gary Peller), What’s Left of Theory? (2000, co-edited with Judith Butler and John Guillory), and Legge Razza Diritti: La Critical Race Theory negli Stati Uniti (2005, co-edited with Gianfrancesco Zanetti). His influential articles include "Beyond the Privacy Principle" in the Columbia Law Review (1992), "The Eclipse of Reason: A Rhetorical Reading of Bowers v. Hardwick" in the Virginia Law Review (1993), "Strange Fruit" in Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power (1992), and "Racial Justice: Moral or Political?" in Law’s Century (2002). Thomas received the 2024 Columbia University Faculty Service Award for volunteer activities advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and was the inaugural Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin in 1998. He has chaired sections of the Association of American Law Schools, served on advisory boards for Columbia University Press and GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies, and contributed to university committees on ROTC, AIDS policy, and women and gender studies. His scholarship has shaped critical legal theory, constitutional discourse on race and sexuality, and human rights advocacy.

Professional Email: kthomas@law.columbia.edu