Kevin Worthen
BYU Advancement Vice President ; Hugh W. Colton Professor of Law

D-364 ASB
(801) 422-2640
kevin_worthen@byu.edu

Education

AS 1978, College of Eastern Utah; BA 1979 (summa cum laude) and JD 1982 (summa cum laude), Brigham Young University. University Honors: lead articles editor, Brigham Young University Law Review; Order of the Coif.

Law Practice

Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, Phoenix, 1984-87.

Experience

Law clerk, Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1982-83; clerk to Judge Byron R. White, U.S. Supreme Court, 1984; Fulbright scholar, University of Chile Law School, fall 1994; author of publications about federal Indian law, local government law, and constitutional law. Joined J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1987; associate dean, 1999-2004; Dean of Law School, 2004-2008; BYU advancement vice president, 2008-present.

Principal Research Interests

Federal Indian Law, International Law, Constitutional Law, and State and Local Government Law

Classes Taught

State & Local Government, Federal Indian Law, Legislation

Publications

Eagle Feathers and Equality: Lessons on Religious Exceptions for the Native American Experience, (forthcoming 76 Colo. L. Rev _____ (2005)).

Who Decides and What Difference Does It Make? : Defining Marriage in "Our Democratic, Federal Republic," 18 BYU J. Pub. L. 273 (2004).

Discipline: An Academic Dean's Perspective on Dealing with Plagiarism, 2004 BYU ed. & L. J. 441 (2004).

Who's In Charge Here? Tribal, State, and Federal Authority Over Non-Indian Resource Development in Indian Country, 47 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Rev. 2-1 (2001).

Protecting the Sacred Sites of Indigenous Peoples in U.S. Courts: Reconciling Native American Religion and the Right to Exclude, 13 St. Thomas L. Rev. 239 (2000).

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Light of Thornton: The People and Essential Attributes of Sovereignty, 1998 BYU L. Rev. 137.

The Grand Experiment: Evaluating Indian Law in the "New World", 5 Tulsa J. Int'l & Comp. L. 229 (1998).

Why Indian Law? (Book Review), 1 Greenbag 341 (1998).

Who Will Control the Future of Indian Gaming? "A Few Pages of History are Worth a Volume Of Logic," 1996 BYU L. Rev. 407 (co-author with Wayne Farnsworth).

Shirt Tales: Clerking for Byron White, 1994 BYU L. Rev. 349.

One Small Step for Courts, One Giant Leap for Group Rights: Accommodating the Associational Role of "Intimate" Government Entities, 71 N.C. L. Rev. 595 (1993).

The "Pivotal" Role of Local Governments in Striking the Proper Balance Between Individualism and Communitarianism: Lessons For and From Americans, 1993 BYU L. Rev. 475.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Potential Normative Power of American Cities and Indian Tribes, 44 Vand. L. Rev. 1273 (1991).

Sword or Shield: The Past and Future Impact of Western Legal Thought on American Indian Sovereignty (Book Review), 104 Harv. L. Rev. 1372 (1991).

Shedding New Light on an Old Debate: A Federal Indian Law Perspective on Congressional Authority to Limit Federal Question Jurisdiction
, 75 Minn. L. Rev. 65 (1990).

The Last Shall be First, and the First Last: Ruminations on the Past, Present and Future Course of Government Regulation of Hazardous Pollutants, 1989 BYU L. Rev. 1113.

Regular Contributor to ABA Preview of Supreme Court Cases-Writing articles previewing Supreme Court cases on Indian Law, Voting Rights, and Federalism.