James L. Swanson

James L. Swanson is a former senior fellow in constitutional studies and former editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. A graduate of the University of Chicago and the UCLA School of Law, he was a member of the law review and recipient of a moot court distinguished advocate award. He served as assistant to Chairman Susan Liebeler at the U.S. International Trade Commission, clerked for Douglas H. Ginsburg, chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and was a special assistant in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, where he worked on Supreme Court nominations. He is the founding and current editor of the First Amendment Law Handbook (Westgroup), an annual volume on recent developments in constitutional law and freedom of speech. He has written articles on intellectual property, the First Amendment, and other topics, and his work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, American Heritage, and other newspapers and magazines. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, his latest book Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Execution was reviewed in the New York Times, the Sunday Times of London, the Chicago Tribune, and other publications. He serves on the Advisory Committee of the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.