Robert S. Peck

Robert S. Peck is President of the Center for Constitutional Litigation, P.C., a Washington, D.C. law firm devoted to appellate practice. His legal work has achieved Martindale-Hubbell’s prized AV rating. His practice brings him regularly before the U.S. Supreme Court, most recently in Philip Morris USA v. Williams (US 2007 & 2009), as well as state supreme courts. He has represented state trial lawyer associations and individuals, challenging laws that restrict access to justice, such as In re Amendment to the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar (Fla. 2006); In re: Petition for Rulemaking to Revise the Ethical Standards Relating to Contingency Fees, (Utah 2004); State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. Sheward (Oh. 1999), as well as public officials, challenging unfair election procedures, such as Wexler v. Anderson, 452 F.3d 1226 (11th Cir. 2006); Wexler v. LePore, 385 F.3d 1336 (11th Cir. 2004); Jones v. Heller (Nev. 2004).

Mr. Peck also serves as a member of the adjunct law faculties at both American University and George Washington University, where he teaches an advanced constitutional law seminar, alternating semesters between the two schools. He is a member of the executive committee of the Board of Overseers of the RAND Corporation’s Institute for Civil Justice and the governance committee of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts. He is also a member of other prestigious legal organizations, including American Law Institute and the American Bar Foundation. He is a past president of the U.S. Supreme Court Fellows Alumni Association and the Freedom to Read Foundation, and a past national chair of Lawyers for Libraries.

In 2005, the National Center for State Courts honored him with its Distinguished Service Award. He has also received the New Jersey Association for Justice’s Gold Medal award (2009); the Trial Lawyers of Metropolitan Washington, D.C.’s Champion of Justice Award (2008); the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers’ S. Victor Tipton Award (2002), the American Bar Association=s Pursuit of Justice Award (2001), and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice’s Public Justice Achievement Award (2001), the 1988 White House Citation for Public-Private Partnerships, and the U.S. Information Agency’s Award for Outstanding Service (1987). In 1990-91, he served as a U.S. Supreme Court Fellow. His 1987 public television series, We the People, for which he was project director and senior script consultant, won numerous journalism and documentary awards.

Mr. Peck’s books include Libraries, Cyberspace and the First Amendment (ALA Editions 2000), The Bill of Rights and the Politics of Interpretation (West Publishing 1992) and We the People: The Constitution in American Life (Harry Abrams 1987). His scholarly publications include Blame it on the Bee Gees: The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Civil Justice, 51 NEW YORK L. SCH. L. REV. 323 (2007) (with John Vail); Violating the Inviolate: Caps on Damages and the Right to Trial by Jury, 31 U. DAYTON L. REV. 307 (2006); The Development of the Law of Joint and Several Liability, 55 FDCC Q. 465 (2005); The Victim Compensation Fund: Born from a Unique Confluence of Events Not Likely to be Duplicated, 53 DEPAUL L. REV. 209 (2004); Tort Reform's Threat to an Independent Judiciary, 33 RUTGERS L.J. 835 (2003); Tort Reform 1999: A Building Without a Foundation, 27 FLA. ST. L. REV. 397 (2000)(with Richard Marshall and Kenneth D. Kranz), Free Speech and Political Reform, 21 OKLAHOMA CITY U. L. REV. 53 (1996); and The Threat to the American Idea of Religious Liberty, 46 MERCER L. REV. 1123 (1995).