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Katie Eyer

Visiting Faculty

Katie Eyer

Visiting Professor of Law

Biography

Katie Eyer is an anti-discrimination law scholar, teacher, and litigator. She is a leading expert on LGBTQ and disability rights and on social movements and constitutional change. Her 2019 article, Statutory Originalism and LGBT Rights, has been credited with originating the textualist argument that the Supreme Court adopted in the landmark case of Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. __ (2020) (holding that anti-LGBT discrimination is discrimination "because of...sex" under Title VII). 

Professor Eyer is a member of the American Law Institute and has been recognized at the national, university and local level for her scholarship, teaching, service, and work as a litigator. Her work has been published in numerous top law journals, including the Yale Law Journal, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and others.

Prior to entering academia, Professor Eyer was a lawyer doing cutting-edge work in the area of LGBTQ employment rights. In 2005, she founded the Employment Rights Project at Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, one of the first projects in the country to focus on the employment rights of LGBTQ workers. Professor Eyer clerked for the Hon. Guido Calabresi in 2004-2005.

Education and Experience

Education

Yale Law School

Juris Doctorate, June 2004

  • Honors: Coker Fellow; Stephen J. Massey Prize; Connecticut Bar Foundation Fellow
  • Activities: Teaching Assistant (Constitutional Litigation and Torts); Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization (Complex Federal Litigation and Prison Legal Services); Workers’ Rights Project; Student/Faculty Alliance for Military Equality; Disability and Bioethics Working Group; Lowenstein International Human Rights Project

Columbia University, Columbia College

Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, May 1999

  • Honors: Phi Beta Kappa; Best Senior Honors Thesis, Political Science Department; John Jay Scholar; National Merit Scholar
  • Employment: 20+ hours/week in Food Service for Self-Support

Experience

Rutgers Law School, Camden, NJ

  • Professor of Law, 208-date
  • Associate Professor 2015-2018
  • Assistant Professor, 2012-2015

University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, IL

  • Visiting Professor of Law, Anticipated, Fall 2023

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

  • Research Scholar and Lecturer in Law, 2009 – 2012

Salmanson Goldshaw, PC, Philadelphia, PA

  • Employment Discrimination and ERISA Attorney (Focus on LGBTQ and Disability Rights), 2007 - 2012

Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

  • LGBT Employment Rights Project Attorney and Skadden Fellow, 2005 - 2007

Hon. Guido Calabresi, US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, New Haven, CT

  • Law Clerk, 2004 - 2005

Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, New Haven, CT

  • Legal Intern, Prison Legal Services and Complex Federal Litigation Clinics, Spring 2002 - Spring 2004

Center for Lesbian & Gay Civil Rights, Philadelphia, PA

  • Legal Intern, Summer 2003

Disabilities Law Project (DLP), Philadelphia, PA

  • Legal Intern, Summer 2003

Connecticut Legal Rights Project, Middletown, CT

  • Legal Intern Winter, 2002-2003

Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, Chicago, IL & New York, NY

  • Intern / Legal Intern, Summer 2001 & Summer 2002

Lowenstein International Human Rights Project, New Haven, CT

  • Legal Intern, Fall 2001

Galloway and Associates, Boulder, CO

  • Paralegal / Office Manager, 2000-2001

University of California, Los Angeles, CA

  • Senior Administrative Analyst, 1999-2000

Food Service and Temp Worker Positions, Various Locations

  • Various, 1993-1999

Presentations
  • Disability and the Ongoing Federalism Revolution: American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting (November, 2023) (upcoming); Maryland Law Constitutional Law Schmooze (June, 2023)
  • Transgender Constitutional Law: National Conference of ConLaw Scholars (March, 2023); University of Florida Faculty Colloquium (September, 2022); University of Chicago Workshop on Family, Sex and Gender (April, 2022)
  • Am I Disabled?: AALS 2024 Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (Upcoming, January, 2024); University of Pennsylvania Law Review Symposium on the Disability Frame (February, 2022)
  • Textualism Revisited: Ohio State Faculty Colloquium (April, 2022); Loyola University Chicago/George Washington University Constitutional Law Colloquium (November, 2021); Invited Keynote Speaker, Center for Constitutional Law, University of Akron School of Law (September, 2021)
  • The But-For Theory of Anti-Discrimination Law: University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Public Affairs Symposium (March, 2021); AALS 2021 Annual Meeting, Virtual (January, 2021); 15th Annual Colloquium on Labor and Employment Law (October, 2020)
  • Claiming Disability: DIScourse Philosophy and Disability Workshop (May, 2023); South Texas College of Law Faculty Colloquium Series (March, 2021); University of Texas School of Law Faculty Colloquium Series (September, 2020); Wayne State Gershenson Lecture Series (September, 2020); Equality Law Scholars Forum (Spring, 2020 – Cancelled due to COVID-19); University of Connecticut School of Law Faculty Colloquium Series (November, 2019); Pace Law School Faculty Speaker Series (October, 2019)
  • Statutory Originalism and LGBT Rights: AALS 2019 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (January, 2019)
  • The Return of the Technical McDonnell Douglas Paradigm: Villanova Faculty Colloquium Series (April, 2019); IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law Faculty Speaker Series (April, 2019); UNC School of Law Faculty Speakers Series (February, 2019); Rutgers Faculty Colloquium, Newark Location (February, 2019); American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting (November, 2018); University of Kansas School of Law Faculty Colloquium Series (October, 2018); 13th Annual Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law (COSELL) (September, 2018); Federalist Society/University of Houston Law Center Junior Faculty Colloquium (April, 2018)
  • Animus Trouble: Stetson Law Review Symposium (April, 2018)
  • The Canon of Rational Basis Review: Institute for Justice/Antonin Scalia Law School Symposium, the 14th Amendment at 150 (September, 2018); Penn State Law Faculty Workshop Series (March, 2018); American Constitution Society Junior Scholars Public Law Workshop (January, 2018); Temple University Beasley School of Law Faculty Colloquium (September, 2017); The Constitution in Trial Courts Workshop, Bar Ilan University, Israel (January, 2017); Loyola University Chicago Sixth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium (November, 2016); NYC-Area Junior Faculty Colloquium (October, 2016); Drexel Law Faculty Colloquium Series (September, 2016)
  • Protected Class Rational Basis Review: Rutgers Law Joint Junior Faculty Colloquium (April, 2016); Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) Seminar, Princeton University (December, 2015); Duke Center for Law, Race and Politics, The Present and Future of Civil Rights Movements (November, 2015); Loyola University Fifth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium (November, 2015)
  • Sex Discrimination and Rational Basis Review: Lessons for LGBT Rights: AALS 2016 Annual Meeting, New York, NY (January, 2016)
  • Ideological Drift and the Forgotten History of Intent: Law and Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA (May, 2015); Chancellor’s Faculty Research Day, Rutgers-Camden (April, 2015); Rutgers Newark Faculty Colloquium (March, 2015); Loyola University Chicago Fourth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium (November, 2013); Rutgers Law Junior Faculty Seminar (March, 2013)
  • The Declaration of Independence as Bellwether: National Constitution Center / Southern California Law Review Symposium (April, 2015)
  • Constitutional Crossroads and the Canon of Rational Basis Review: Beijing+20: Gender Equality on the 20th Anniversary of the UN 4th World Conference on Women (September, 2015) (transcript of conference remarks in the Women’s Law Reporter); Loyola University Chicago Fifth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium (November, 2014); Seton Hall Faculty Colloquium Series (October, 2014); AALS Mid-Year Meeting on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues (June, 2014); Rutgers Law Junior Faculty Seminar (February, 2014): UC Davis Law Review Symposium, Davis, CA (February, 2014); AALS 2014 Annual Meeting, New York, NY (January, 2014)
  • Marriage This Term: On Liberty and the “New Equal Protection”: Feminist Legal Theory Collaborative Research Network Conference, University of Baltimore Law School (October, 2012)
  • That’s Not Discrimination: American Beliefs and the Limits of Anti-Discrimination Law: Symposium, Beyond Formal Equality, University of Pennsylvania Law School (February, 2013); Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium, Baltimore, MD (April, 2012); University of Pennsylvania Law School Ad Hoc Series (June, 2010); Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL (May, 2010)
  • Constitutional Colorblindness and the Family: Washington University School of Law Faculty Workshop Series (November, 2013); Villanova University Law School Faculty Colloquium (October, 2013); Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Workshop Series (March, 2013); Chancellor’s Faculty Research Day, Rutgers-Camden (February, 2013); Scholarly Papers Presentation, AALS 2013 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (January, 2013) (selected as one of two papers—out of 76 total submissions—to be honored and presented at the meeting); Loyola University Chicago Third Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium (November, 2012); Rutgers-Camden Junior Faculty Colloquium (November, 2012); Mid-Atlantic Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA (October, 2012); Emerging Family Law Teachers and Scholars Conference, Fordham Law School (May, 2012); Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (June, 2011)
  • LGBT Employment Rights Presentations: 50+ Presentations Across a Range of Contexts (2005-date)
  • Workshops / Working Groups: LGBT Health Disparities Working Group, Rutgers Center for Gender and Sexuality Law and Policy (2016-2018); The Constitution in Trial Courts Workshop, Bar Ilan University, Israel (January, 2017) (invited participant); Constitutional Law “Schmooze” on Constitutional Interpretation, ACS National Convention, Washington, DC (June, 2013) (invited participant); Law and Society Early Career Workshop, San Francisco, CA (June, 2011) (one of 20 participants selected through competitive process); Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship Workshop, Northwestern University School of Law (May, 2011)

Additional Activities

Honors and Awards

  • Elected Member, American Law Institute (2018)
  • Dukeminier Award for Best Legal Scholarship in LGBTQ Law (2020)
  • SALT Junior Faculty Teaching Award (2017) AALS Scholarly Papers Competition (2013)
  • Super Lawyers Rising Star (2010-2012)
  • Cheryl Ingram Advocate for Justice Award for Work on Behalf of LGBT Rights (2011)

Professional Memberships and Affiliations

  • American Law Institute: Members’ Consultative Group, Student Sexual Misconduct: Procedural Frameworks for Colleges and Universities,
  • Principles of Policing (2019-present)
  • AALS Section on Law Professors with Disabilities and Allies: Co-Founder and Inaugural Chair (2021-2022), Executive Committee (2022-date)
  • AALS Section on Disability Law: Chair (2020-2021), Chair-Elect (2019-2020), Secretary (2018-2019), Executive Committee (2013-2014)
  • AALS Section on Constitutional Law: Executive Committee (2018-2020)
  • Mazzoni Center: Legal Advisory Board (2010-2018)
  • Bar Association Service: Gay/Lesbian Rights Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Vice Chair (2007-2009); LGBT Rights Committee, Philadelphia Bar Association, Co-Chair (2006-2008); Public Interest Section, Philadelphia Bar Association (2006-2007)
  • Mayor’s LGBT Advisory Board, City of Philadelphia: Working Group on Implementation of Gender Identity Protections (2005-2006)

Bar Admissions

Pennsylvania, United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Middle District of Pennsylvania