Biography

Focusing her research on the concepts of democratic theory that shape legal analysis and the constitutional dimensions of judicial and legislative legitimacy, Jane Schacter is a leading expert on statutory interpretation and legislative process, constitutional law, and sexual orientation and the law.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 2006, Professor Schacter was professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, as well as the University of Michigan Law School. Early in her career she was an assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, an associate at Hill & Barlow in Boston, and a law clerk to Judge Raymond J. Pettine of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

Key Works

• William B. Rubenstein, Carlos A. Ball and Jane S. Schacter, Cases and Materials on Sexual Orientation and the Law, St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 3rd. ed., 2008.
• Jane Schacter, Political Accountability, Proxy Accountability and the Democratic Legitimacy of Legislatures, in The Least Examined Branch: The Role of Legislatures in the Constitutional State, Richard W. Bauman and Tsvi Kahana, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Jane Schacter, Lawrence v. Texas and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Democratic Aspirations, 13 Temple Political & Civil Rights Review 733 (2004).
• Victoria A. Nourse and Jane Schacter, The Politics of Legislative Drafting: A Congressional Case Study, 77 New York University Law Review 575 (2002).
• Jane Schacter, Confounding Common Law Originalism in Recent Supreme Court Statutory Interpretation: Implications for the Legislative History Debate and Beyond, 51 Stanford Law Review 1 (1998).
• Jane Schacter, Metademocracy: The Changing Structure of Legitimacy in Statutory Interpretation, 108 Harvard Law Review 593 (1995).
• Jane Schacter, The Pursuit of "Popular Intent": Interpretive Dilemmas in Direct Democracy, 105 Yale Law Journal 107 (1995).

In the News

• Same-sex Marriages Set Stage for Further Legal Action
  The Oakland Tribune, June 16, 2008
• How Will Marriage Ruling Affect Chief's Legacy?
  Daily Journal, May 19, 2008

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Constitutional Law I
• Sexual Orientation and the Law
• Statutory Interpretation

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• William B. Rubenstein, Carlos A. Ball and Jane S. Schacter, Cases and Materials on Sexual Orientation and the Law, St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 3rd. ed., 2008.
• Jane S. Schacter, Unenumerated Democracy: Lessons from the Right to Vote, 9 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 457 (2007).
• Jane Schacter, Political Accountability, Proxy Accountability and the Democratic Legitimacy of Legislatures, in The Least Examined Branch: The Role of Legislatures in the Constitutional State, Richard W. Bauman and Tsvi Kahana, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Jane S. Schacter, Sexual Orientation, Social Change, and the Courts, 54 Drake Law Review 861 (2006).
• Jane Schacter, Ely and the Idea of Democracy, 57 Stanford Law Review 737 (2004).
• Jane Schacter, Lawrence v. Texas and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Democratic Aspirations, 13 Temple Political & Civil Rights Review 733 (2004).
• Jane Schacter, Form, Function and Feminist Law Journals, 12 Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 574 (2003).
• Jane S. Schacter, Accounting for Accountability in Dynamic Statutory Interpretation and Beyond, Issues in Legal Scholarship, Dynamic Statutory Interpretation, Article 5, (2002).
• Victoria A. Nourse and Jane Schacter, The Politics of Legislative Drafting: A Congressional Case Study, 77 New York University Law Review 575 (2002).
• Jane Schacter, Constructing Families in a Democracy: Courts, Legislatures and Second Parent Adoption, 75 Chicago-Kent Law Review 933 (2000).