Rate My Professor Thomas Baker

Thomas E. Baker is a Professor of Law and a founding faculty member of the Florida International University College of Law since August 2002. A nationally recognized constitutional law scholar, he earned a B.S. cum laude in Economics and Political Science from Florida State University in 1974 and a J.D. with high honors from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 1977, graduating fourth in his class of 177. His law school honors included membership on the University of Florida Law Review Board, Moot Court Board, Order of the Coif, Phi Kappa Phi, and Omicron Delta Kappa. Baker began his career clerking for Judge James C. Hill on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1977 to 1979. He later served as Federal Judicial Fellow and Acting Administrative Assistant to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist at the Supreme Court of the United States from 1985 to 1987. Prior appointments include the James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Drake University Law School from 1998 to 2002, the inaugural Alvin R. Allison Professorship at Texas Tech University School of Law from 1979 to 1998 where he received tenure, and visiting professorships at the University of Florida College of Law in 1994, Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary in 2007, and as Distinguished Fulbright Professor of American Constitutional Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1992.

Baker has authored eighteen books and editions, including leading casebooks such as First Amendment Law: Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion (5th ed. forthcoming 2022, with Arthur D. Hellman, William D. Araiza, and Ashutosh A. Bhagwat), Constitutional Analysis in a Nutshell (3d ed. 2019), and A Primer on the Jurisdiction of the U.S. Courts of Appeals (3d ed. 2023). He has published more than 200 scholarly articles in top journals including the Harvard Journal on Legislation, Iowa Law Review, Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, and William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, as well as the first article in the inaugural issue of the FIU Law Review. His awards include multiple FIU Professor of the Year selections—more than any other faculty member—FIU Top Scholar Award (2012), FIU Pioneer Award (2004), Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (2004), Life Member of the American Law Institute (2009), Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (2011), and Commendation for Distinguished Service from the Judicial Conference of the United States (1990). Baker has received tenure at three universities, served on advisory panels for Black’s Law Dictionary 9th Edition and Garner’s Modern American Usage 3d Edition, and appears frequently in national media as an expert on constitutional law and federal courts, including NPR, CNN’s Burden of Proof, C-SPAN, and Slate.com.