Craig A. Stern, J.D.

Bio

Professor Craig A. Stern is a professor emeritus at Regent University School of Law. He began as an adjunct with Regent in 1988 and came on full time in 1990. Stern received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his B.A. cum laude from Yale University. At Yale he studied Classics.

Stern has been admitted to the bar in Virginia, the District of Columbia, and several federal jurisdictions. He has served as an associate attorney for Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman, as the Assistant Deputy Director of the Legal and Administrative Agencies Group, Office of President-elect Ronald Reagan, as counsel to the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, as the associate editor of BENCHMARK for the Center for Judicial Studies in Washington, D.C., and Cumberland, Virginia, as special counsel and director of publications for the Constitutional Law Center, and as Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk.

His teaching and research interests include: Human Rights, Federal Courts, Conflict of Laws, Jurisprudence, Legal History and Criminal Law.

Credentials

J.D., University of Virginia School of Law

B.A., cum laude, Yale University

Publications

Books & Monographs:

Church, State, and Education: A Federal Circuit Manual (1985).

Judging the Judges: The First Two Years of the Reagan Bench (1985).

Book Chapters:

"Mens Rea and Mental Disorder" in The Insanity Defense: Multidisciplinary Views on Its History, Trends, and Controversies (2017).

Select Journal Articles & Notes:

“Truth and Law: The Role and Mission of a Christian Law School in Africa,” https://www.cleafrica.net/praxis.

“Full Faith and Credit to Judgments: Now And Then—and Now,” Pro Tempore, No. 1, 2024, 1.

Just as We Imagine, 12 J. Christian Legal Thought, no. 2, 2022, at 7.

"A Mistake of Natural Law: Sir William Blackstone and the Anglican Way," 4 University of Bologna Law Review 325 (2019).

"Megillath Esther and the Rule of Law: Disobedience and Obligation," 17 Rutgers J.L. & Religion 244 (2016).

Human Rights or the Rule of Law—The Choice for East Africa?, 24 Mich. St. Int'l L. Rev. 45 (2015).

"The Heart of Mens Rea and the Insanity of Psychopaths," 42 Capital University Law Review 619 (2014).

"The Founders on: 'Does the Constitution Work?'" 5 Akron Journal of Constitutional Law & Policy1 (2013-14).

Crimes in America: Too Much of a Good Thing (April 1, 2011). The Christian Lawyer, Spring 2011.

"Another Sign from Hein: Does the Generalized Grievance Fail a Constitutional or a Prudential Test of Federal Standing to Sue?" 12 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1169 (2008).

"The Coherence of Natural Inalienable Rights," 76 UMKC Law Review 939 (2008) (co-authored with Gregory M. Jones).

"The Common Law and the Religious Foundations of the Rule of Law Before Casey," 38 University of San Francisco Law Review 499 (2004).

"Article III and Expanding the Power of the United States Court of Federal Claims," 71 George Washington Law Review 818 (2003).

"Torah and Murder: The Cities of Refuge and Anglo-American Law," 35 Valparaiso University Law Review 461 (2001).

"Crime, Moral Luck, and the Sermon on the Mount", 48 Catholic University Law Review 801 (1999).

"Justinian: Lieutenant of Christ, Legislator for Christendom," 11 Regent University Law Review151 (1998).

"What's a Constitution Among Friends? Unbalancing Article III," 146 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1043 (1998).

"Things Not Nice: An Essay on Civil Government," 8 Regent University Law Review 1 (1997).

"Foreign Judgments and the Freedom of Speech: Look Who's Talking," 60 Brooklyn Law Review 999 (1994).

Scholarly Papers:

God's Caesar: A Biblical Understanding of the Limits of Civil Government (2013).

Biblical Limits on the Role of Civil Government (November 16, 2006).

Awards

Recipient, University Faculty Award for Excellence (Fall 2008), School of Law Teacher of the Year (2013-14), Law Faculty Scholar of the Year (2017-18).