Christian L. González-Rivera

Christian L. González-Rivera

Assistant Professor of Law
Director, Summer in Spain Program

Email: cgonzalezrivera@stu.edu

Phone: 305.623.2341

Mail:

St. Thomas University College of Law
Faculty Suite (209)
16401 NW 37th Ave
Miami Gardens, FL 33054


Education:

B.A. (Psychology & Philosophy), University of Puerto Rico
C.G.S. (Greek & Latin Languages), University of Vermont
J.D., St. Thomas University College of Law
Certificate in Intercultural Human Rights, St. Thomas University College of Law
LL.M. (Intercultural Human Rights), St. Thomas University College of Law


Expertise:

Conflict of Laws
Constitutional Law
International Law
Legal Interpretation
Philosophy of Law

Professor González-Rivera’s Curriculum Vitae

Christian L. González-Rivera

Christian Lee González-Rivera is an Assistant Professor of Law at St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law on the tenure track. He is also Director of our College of Law’s Summer in Spain Study Abroad Program, an annual 12-credit program offering summer courses in international subjects in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain.

Professor González-Rivera’s teaching and research focus on Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Conflict of Laws, and International Law. He also teaches a seminar on Jurisprudence and another on Law, Science, and Policy, where students learn to think about law in multidisciplinary and problem-oriented terms. His primary interests include originalist interpretive methods, federalism, human rights, and constitutional and international law theory more broadly.

Professor González-Rivera has recently been a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center’s Center for the Constitution. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Universidad Panamericana, Facultad de Derecho, in Mexico City, Mexico.

Professor González-Rivera previously served as senior law clerk to the Honorable Judge Fleur Lobree at Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal. He also worked as trial and appellate counsel at the firm of Butler Weihmuller Katz & Craig LLP. He holds a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Puerto Rico (magna cum laude), a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Greek and Latin Languages from the University of Vermont (magna cum laude), and a J.D. (magna cum laude) and LL.M. (summa cum laude) in Intercultural Human Rights from St. Thomas University College of Law.

Scholarship & Research

Scholarship

Articles & Book Chapters:

Taming the Hydra: The Evolution of American Conceptions of the Police Power (forthcoming, SSRN, produced during my visitorship at GU Law’s Center for the Constitution, Fall 2024).

“Liberty Is Its End:” Toward An Original Concept of Police Power in America, 1789-1815 (forthcoming, SSRN, to be produced during my visitorship at GU Law’s Center for the Constitution, Spring 2025).

Breaking the Spell of Common Good Constitutionalism: Neither Good Nor Common Nor Even Constitutionalism (forthcoming, SSRN, Spring 2025).

Neither “Slot Machine” Nor “Genteel Hoax:” Constitutional Interpretation in Policy-Oriented Perspective, in Human Flourishing: The End of Law. Essays in Honor of Siegfried Wiessner 175-265 (Michael Reisman & Roza Pati eds., 2023) (print) (“Recommended” reading by Lawrence Solum’s Legal Theory Blog).

The Plight of “Unreasonable” Trafficking Victims: Replacing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s Reasonable Person Standard for Coercion with a Genuine Belief Standard, 40 Women Rts. L. Rep. 273 (2019) (print).

The ILC at its 70th Anniversary: Its Role in International Law and its Impact on the U.S. Legal System, 13 F.I.U. L. Rev. 101 (2019) (with Siegfried Wiessner) (print).

A Government by Men, Not Nature: A Natural Law Case for Limits on the Judicial Enforcement of Natural Law Principles and Unenumerated Rights under the Constitution, 24 Trinity L. Rev. 1 (2019) (print).

Law as a Means to Human Flourishing: Law, Morality, and Natural Law in Policy-Oriented Perspective, 14 Intercultural Hm. Rts. L. Rev. 289 (2019) (print).

The Origins of English Judicial Review in Lord Coke’s Dr. Bonham’s Case: A Reassessment, Fundamina (forthcoming/in progress 2025).

Books:

Christian Lee Gonzalez-Rivera, Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials. Custom Edition (2024) (Aspen Publishing) (ISBN: 9798894104195).

Reason and Tradition in Judicial Constitutive Processes: A Contextual Theory of Constitutional Adjudication (in progress, ongoing doctoral dissertation).

Constitutional Bulwarks Under Stress: American Judicial Review of Emergency Measures During the Covid-19 Pandemic (in progress).

Michael Reisman, Mahnoush Arsanjani, Siegfried Wiessner, & Roza Pati, International Law in Contemporary Perspective (3d ed., Foundation Press, forthcoming 2025-2026) (assisted with case and other material excerpting, footnote drafting, and research) (print).

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review: The Importance of Morals to Law Vol. 14, pp. 1-416 (Christian Lee Gonzalez-Rivera, Editor-in-Chief, 2019) (print).

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review Vol. 13, pp. 1-336 (Christian Lee Gonzalez-Rivera, Executive Editor, 2018) (print).

Conferences & Symposia:

Presenter, The Original Meaning of “Police Powers” in the Early Republic: Some Preliminaries, Georgetown University Law Center, Center for the Constitution (November 19, 2024).

Presenter, Achieving Common Interests: The Lasswell-McDougal Calculus of the Common Good, Policy Sciences Institute, Society of Policy Scientists, University of Maine Law School, Portland, Maine (Oct. 31, 2024-Nov. 2, 2024).

Discussant to Peter Kwasniewski, Authority, Obedience, and the Common Good, The Federalist Society STU Chapter, Miami Gardens, FL, February 16, 2024.

Law and Policy in Development: Governance and the Constitutive Process, Society of Policy Scientists’ Annual Institute, The World Bank, Washington, D.C. (Nov. 9, 2023) (with Siegfried Wiessner).

Panelist, A Fireside Chat with Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd ‘98: A Discussion of the Constitutional Duties of the Florida Secretary of State on Constitution Day, St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, Miami Gardens, FL, Sept. 18, 2023.

Discussant to Logan Beirne, Big Brother Watching: A Historical Perspective, The Federalist Society STU Chapter, Miami Gardens, FL, February 22, 2023.

Program Chair, Opening Remarks, Human Dignity: The Heart of Ethical Leadership, 2019 Intercultural Human Rights Law Review Annual Symposium with speakers Elsa Meany, Lauren Gilbert, Desmond Meade, Marc-Tizoc Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Planas, and Anthony Musto (moderated by Siegfried Wiessner and Jay Silver), St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, FL, March 19, 2019.

Program Chair, 2018 Supreme Court Roundtable with speakers Ilya Shapiro, Juan Carlos Planas, and Alfredo Garcia (moderated by Siegfried Wiessner), Federalist Society, St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, FL, Sept. 20, 2018.

Program Chair, Natural Law and the U.S. Constitution with speaker Roger Pilon (moderated by Siegfried Wiessner), Federalist Society, St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, FL, Jan. 25, 2018.

Courses
  • Advanced Constitutional Law

  • Appellate Advocacy

  • Comparative Constitutional Law

  • Conflict of Laws

  • Constitutional Law

  • First Amendment Law

  • Judicial Decision-Making

  • Jurisprudence

  • Moot Court

  • Torts

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