Catherine E. Smith
Professor
Associate Dean of Institutional Diversity & Inclusiveness
303-871-6180 (Office)
Office 464A, Frank H. Ricketson Law Bldg., 2255 East Evans Ave. Denver, CO 80208
Specialization(s)
Employment and Labor Law, Torts, Workplace Law
Professional Biography
Catherine Smith joined the faculty at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2004. After graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law, Professor Smith clerked for the late Chief Judge Henry A. Politz of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for U.S. Magistrate Judge William M. Catoe Jr. She then served as a legal fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Before joining the faculty at the University of Denver, Professor Smith was an assistant professor at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law from 2000 to 2004.
Professor Smith teaches torts, employment discrimination, family law, and sexuality, gender and the law. Her research interests include civil rights law and critical race theory. Her articles have been published in a number of journals, including Wisconsin Law Review, Washington University Law Review, U.C. Davis Law Review and the Ohio State Law Journal. In addition, Smith co-authored an amicus brief on the constitutional rights of children that was cited in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark United States Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision.
Op-Ed
The Smartest Constitutional Argument For Marriage Equality that No One is Making,
Blog posts
Obergefell and the Interests of Children
Ban Proponents Slept Through a Revolution: But Not the One You Think
How Marriage Bans Harmed Children of Same-Sex Parents
Degree(s)
- JD, University of South Carolina, 1996
- MA, University of South Carolina, 1993
- BA, Government and French, Wofford College, 1991
Featured Publications
- State Action That Penalizes Children as Evidence of a Desire to Harm Politically Unpopular Parents, 51 Suffolk L. Rev. 439 (2018).
- Brief of Amici Curiae Scholars of The Constitutional Rights and Interests Of Children in Support of Respondents in Masterpiece Cakeshop LTD, et al v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, co-authored with Lauren Fontana, Angela Onwuachi-Willig,Tanya M. Washington, Barbara Bennett Woodhouse (2017).
- Obergefell’s Missed Opportunity, 79 Law & Contemporary Problems 223 (2016).
- Brief of Amici Curiae Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children in Support of Petitioners in Obergefell v. Hodges, co-authored with Lauren Fontana, Tanya Washington and Susannah Pollvogt (March 9, 2015).
- Brief for Amici Curiae Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children in Support of Respondent Edith Windsor Addressing the Merits and Supporting Affirmance, co-authored with Jay Brown, Kyle Velte, Susannah Pollvogt, Tanya Washington (2015).
