Atop St. Paul's Cathedral, London
Rob Natelson is one of America’s best-known constitutional scholars. He was formerly a tenured law professor and the top publisher on the University of Montana law faculty, where he taught, among other subjects, Constitutional Law, Constitutional History, Advanced Constitutional Law, and First Amendment.
in 2010 he came to the Independence Institute full time. His title is Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence. He also serves as Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Montana Policy Institute and as a Senior Fellow at Arizona’s Goldwater Institute.
When Rob was at the University of Montana, the university recognized his research achievements. These included dozens of major publications (see below); pioneering the use of source material and discovering key facts about the Constitution previously overlooked; creating the first online guide to “originalist” research (now partly duplicated here); creating the Documentary History of the Ratification of the Montana Constitution; and in conjunction with his eldest daughter Rebecca, editing the first complete Internet versions of the Emperor Justinian’s great Roman law collection (in Latin).
There are several keys to Rob’s success as a scholar. Unlike most constitutional writers, he has academic training not merely in law or in history, but in both, as well as in the Latin classics that were the mainstay of Founding-Era education. He works hard to keep his historical investigations objective. He also has the benefit of lessons and habits learned in the “real world,” since he has practiced law in two states, run three businesses, and worked as a journalist and at other jobs as well. He created and hosted Montana’s first statewide commercial radio talk show; became the state’s best known political activist — leading, among other campaigns, the most successful petition-referendum drive in Montana history; and he helped push through several important pieces of state legislation.
In June 2000, Rob was the runner-up among five candidates in the party primaries for Governor of Montana.
Recreation? He loves to spend time in the great outdoors, where he particularly enjoys hiking and skiing with his wife and three daughters.
What Rob Has Published:
CONSTITUTIONAL PUBLICATIONS
* On the Constitution in General:
The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (Tenth Amendment Center, 2010) (2nd ed., 2011) (book).
The Founders’ Hermeneutic: The Real Original Understanding of Original Intent, 68 Ohio St. L.J. 1239 (2007).
The Constitution and the Public Trust, 52 Buff. L. Rev. 1077 (2004).
A Reminder: The Constitutional Values of Sympathy and Independence, 91 Ky. L. J. 353 (2003).
The Constitutional Contributions of John Dickinson, 108 Penn. State L. Rev. 415 (2003).
* On Congressional Power – Commerce and Necessary & Proper Clauses:
The Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause (with Lawson, Miller & Seidman) (Cambridge University Press 2010) (book).
“Health Laws of Every Description”: John Marshall’s Ruling on a Federal Health Care Law, 12 Engage, No. 1 (June, 2011) (with Dave Kopel)
Commerce in the Commerce Clause: A Response to Jack Balkin, 109 Mich. L. Rev. First Impressions 55 (2010) (with Dave Kopel).
Tempering the Commerce Power, 68 Mont. L. Rev. 95 (2007).
The Legal Meaning of “Commerce” In the Commerce Clause, 80 St. John’s L. Rev. 789 (2006).
The Agency Law Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause, 55 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 243 (2004).
* On Congressional Power – Taxing and Spending:
Judicial Review of Special Interest Spending: The General Welfare Clause and the Fiduciary Law of the Founders, 11 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 239 (2007).
The General Welfare Clause and the Public Trust: An Essay in Original Understanding, 52 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1 (2003).
* On Congressional Power – Campaign Finance:
The Original Scope of the Congressional Power to Regulate Elections, 13 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1 (2010).
* On Congressional Power – Money:
Paper Money and the Original Understanding of the Coinage Clause, 31 Harvard J.L. & Pub. Policy 1017 (2008).
* On Congressional Power – Indian Affairs:
The Original Meaning of the Indian Commerce Clause, 85 Denv. U. L. Rev. 201 (2007).
* On Congressional Power – Federal Land:
Federal Land Retention and the Constitution’s Property Clause: The Original Understanding, 76 U. Colo. L. Rev. 327 (2005).
More in Chapter 6, pp. 106-110, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant
* More on Congressional Power: Chapters 5 & 6, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant
* On the Executive Power and Impeachment:
The Original Meaning of the Constitution’s “Executive Vesting Clause” – Evidence from Eighteenth-Century Drafting Practice, 31 Whittier L. Rev. 1 (2009).
More in Chapters 7 & 11, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant
* On The States & Republican Government:
The Original Meaning of the Privileges and Immunities Clause, 43 Ga. L. Rev. 1117 (2009).
The Guarantee Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2005).
Initiative and Referendum and the “Republican Form of Government,” in The Battle over Citizen Lawmaking (Carolina Ac. Press 2000).
The Enumerated Powers of States, 3 Nev. L. J. 469 (2003).
Statutory Retroactivity: The Founders’ View, 39 Idaho L. Rev. 489 (2003).
A Republic, Not a Democracy? Initiative, Referendum, and the Constitution’s Guarantee Clause, 80 Tex. L. Rev. 807 (2002).
More in Chapters 3 & 6, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant
* On Amending the Constitution:
The Original Meaning of the Constitution’s “Convention for Proposing Amendments” (forthcoming)
Proposing Constitutional Amendments by Convention: Rules Governing the Process, 78 Tenn. L. Rev. 693 ( 2011)
James Madison and the Constitution’s “Convention for Proposing Amendments,” Akron L. Rev. (forthcoming, 2012)
The State-Application-and-Convention Method of Amending the Constitution: The Founding-Era Vision, 28 Cooley L. Rev. 9 (2011)
Amending the Constitution by Convention: Practical Guidance for Citizens and Policymakers (Goldwater Institute, 2011)
Learning from Experience: How the States Used Article V Applications in the Constitution’s First Century (Goldwater Institute, 2010)
Amending the Constitution by Convention: A More Complete View of the Founders’ Plan (Goldwater Institute, Independence Institute 2010)
* First Amendment:
The Original Meaning of the Establishment Clause, 14 Wm. & Mary Bill Rights J. 73 (2005).
More in Chapter 9, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant
* Fifth Amendment:
Statutory Retroactivity: The Founders’ View, 39 Idaho L. Rev. 489 (2003).
More in Chapter 9, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant
* Ninth and Tenth Amendments:
The Enumerated Powers of States, 3 Nev. L. J. 469 (2003).
More in Chapter 10, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant
* State Constitutions:
“No Armed Bodies of Men”—Montanans’ Forgotten Constitutional Right, 63 Mont. L. Rev. 1 (2002).
Blocking the Cure for Columbine: Implications of State Constitutional “Cartelization” (Independence Institute, 1999).
LEGAL HISTORY PUBLICATIONS (OTHER THAN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY)
“Magna Carta,” entry for the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (Macmillan Reference [Gale-Cengage] 2008).
Corpus Juris Civilis—an Internet Compilation of Classical Roman Law Sources, (2002-03).
The Government as Fiduciary: Lessons from the Reign of the Emperor Trajan, 35 Richmond L. Rev. 191 (2001).
Montana Estates in Land Statutes: History and Commentary (Univ. of Mont. 1991).
Running with the Land in Montana, 51 Mont. L. Rev. 17 (1990).
Comments on the Historiography of Condominium: The Myth of Roman Origin, 12 Okla. City L. Rev. 17 (1986) (digested and reprinted in 4 Common Ground (Sept., Nov. 1988)).
PUBLIC POLICY PUBLICATIONS
State Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth in the Rocky Mountain West (Independence Institute, 1998).
Tax and Spending Limits for Montana? Criteria for Assessing Current Proposals (Independence Institute, 1994).
Peyote, “Multiculturalism” and the Caricature of the West, 52 Mont. L. Rev. 453 (1991).
REMEDIES PUBLICATIONS
Montana Remedies Law (course book, 1988).
Mending the Social Compact: Expectancy Damages for Common Property Defects, 66 Or. L. Rev. 109 (1987).
REAL PROPERTY PUBLICATIONS
Lateral and Subjacent Support, in Powell on Real Property (Matthew Bender 2001).
Conveyances of Real Property Not By Deed, in Powell on Real Property (Matthew Bender 1999).
Boundaries, in Powell on Real Property (Matthew Bender 1998).
Condominiums, Reform, and the Unit Ownership Act, 58 Mont. L. Rev. 495 (1997).
Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Aspen Law & Bus. Supp. 1997).
Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1996).
Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1995).
Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1994).
Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1993).
Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown Supp. 1991).
Montana Estates in Land Statutes: History and Commentary (Univ. of Mont. 1991).
Consent, Coercion, and Reasonableness in Private Law: The Special Case of the Property Owners Association, 51 Ohio St. L.J. 41 (1990).
Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown Supp. 1990).
Running with the Land in Montana, 51 Mont. L. Rev. 17 (1990).
Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown Supp. 1989).
Mending the Social Compact: Expectancy Damages for Common Property Defects, 66 Or. L. Rev. 109 (1987).
Keeping Faith: Fiduciary Obligations in Property Owners Associations, 11 Vt. L. Rev. 421 (1986).
“Buyer Brokerage:” Does It Still Exist After Velten v. Robertson?, 55 U. Colo. L. Rev. 83 (1983).
Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown 1992) (606 pp.).
Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown 1989) (749 pp.).
Real Property (course book, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001).
How to Buy and Sell a Condominium (Simon & Schuster 1981) (popular trade paper back).
Real Estate Law Columnist, Denver Rocky Mountain News (1982-84).
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Literally hundreds of other op-eds, CLE materials, and short articles since 1967 on various subjects, including law, policy, and real estate.
