Gregory Ablavsky
![Gregory R Ablavsky](https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gregory-ablavsky-2-e1456506268340-400x400.jpg)
- Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law
- Professor, by courtesy, History
- Room N345, Neukom Building
Expertise
- Constitutional History
- Federal Indian Law
- Legal History
- Property Law
Biography
Gregory Ablavsky’s scholarship focuses on early American legal history, particularly on issues of sovereignty, territory, and property in the early American West. His publications explore a range of topics including the history of the Indian Commerce Clause, the importance of Indian affairs in shaping the U.S. Constitution, and the balance of power between states and the federal government. His book Federal Ground: Governing Property and Violence in the First U.S. Territories was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. His work has received the Cromwell Article Prize and the Kathryn T. Preyer Prize from the American Society for Legal History.
Prior to joining the Stanford Law faculty in 2015, Professor Ablavsky was the Sharswood Fellow in Law and History at the University of Pennsylvania. He clerked for Judge Anthony Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was also a law clerk for the Native American Rights Fund in Washington, D.C.
Education
- PhD (History), University of Pennsylvania, 2016
- JD, Penn Law, 2011
- BA (History), Yale, 2005
Related Organizations
Courses
Policy Practicum
Key Works
News
An Oregon tribe’s casino bid sparks furor over what land tribes can rightfully call home
Los Angeles Times
Gregory Ablavsky, a Stanford law professor and expert in federal Indian law, said the agonizing dissension over the Coquille’s expansion plans underscores tribes’ continuing struggle — centuries after white settler colonialism — to rebuild their nations and economic viability. “Indian gaming is very much a story of winners and losers,”…
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