David F. Forte is an Associate Professor of Law at St. Thomas University College of Law and an Emeritus Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R.  Emrick, Jr. – Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair.  He has the rare distinction of twice being awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, first at the University of Trento, and recently at the University of Warsaw.  In 2016 and 2017, Professor Forte was Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.

During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council.  He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues.  He has also been called to testify before numerous state legislatures across the country. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation both for Congress and for the Ohio General Assembly. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association.  He has received a number of awards for his public service.  He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.  He has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions.  He has published six books and over 80 scholarly articles. He is Vice-Chair of the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.