Gerald L. Neuman is the Director of the Human Rights Program, and the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School. He teaches courses in international human rights law, immigration and nationality law, and U.S. constitutional law. From 2011 to 2014, he served as a Member of the UN Human Rights Committee, the international body of independent experts that monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, one of the principal human rights instruments that form the “International Bill of Rights.”
Neuman has published widely on issues of human rights law, immigration and nationality law, and U.S. and comparative constitutional law. The cooperation and competition among global, national, and regional mechanisms for the protection of individual rights are a major focus of his current research. He has also written numerous amicus curiae briefs concerning the U.S. constitutional rights of foreign nationals, extraterritorial application of constitutional rights, and habeas corpus as a remedy for executive detention.
Prior to joining HLS, Neuman was the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence at Columbia Law School. He began his teaching career at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and has also been a visiting professor at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitaet, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, and has taught in programs at the universities of Leiden, Freiburg, and Tokyo. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an A.B. from Harvard College.
Related Work
Courses
Citizenship, Reading Group, Fall 2022
Human Rights and International Law, Fall 2022
Human Rights in the UN Treaty Bodies, Seminar, Spring 2023
Immigration Law, Spring 2023
Course Catalog View
Books
Human Rights in a Time of Populism (Cambridge University Press, 2020) Ed. Gerald L. Neuman
Human Rights, Democracy, and Legitimacy in a World of Disorder (Cambridge University Press, 2018) Eds. Gerald L. Neuman, Silja Voeneky
Reconsidering the Insular Cases (Harvard University Press, 2015) Eds: Gerald L. Neuman, Tomiko Brown-Nagin
Human Rights (Foundation Press, 1999)
Co-authors: Louis Henkin, Diane Orentlicher, and David Leebron
Second Edition 2009 Co-authors: Sarah Cleveland and Laurence Helfer; Documentary Supplement (Foundation Press, 2000)
Strangers to the Constitution: Immigrants, Borders, and Fundamental Law (Princeton University Press, 1996)
Articles and Chapters
“The Right to ‘Effective Governance’ and the Human Rights Baseline,” in Constitutionalism and Effective Governance (V. Jackson and Y. Dawood eds., forthcoming 2022)
Divergent Human Rights Approaches to Capacity and Consent in Mental Health, Legal Capacity, and Human Rights (M. Stein et al., eds., 2021)
Questions of Indirect Discrimination on the Basis of Religion 34 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 177 (2021)
Human Rights, Treaties and International Legitimacy in Human Rights, Democracy and Legitimacy in a World of Disorder (edited by S. Voeneky and G. Neuman) (Cambridge U.P. 2018)
Arbitrary Detention and the Human Rights Committee’s General Comment 35 in Mélanges in tribute to Judge Christine Chanet, (Emmanuel Decaux, Iulia Motoc & Patrice Gillibert eds., 2018)
Detention as a Last Resort: The Implications of General Comment No. 35 in Protecting Migrant Children: In Search of Best Practice (Mary Crock & Lenni Benson eds., 2018).
Giving Meaning and Effect to Human Rights: The Contributions of Human Rights Committee Members in The Human Rights Covenants at 50: Their Past, Present, and Future (Daniel Moeckli & Helen Keller eds., 2018).
Standing Alone or Together: The Human Rights Committee’s Decision in A.P. v. Russian Federation in Integrated Human Rights in Practice: Rewriting Human Rights Decisions (E. Brems and E. Desmet eds. 2017)
Human Rights and the International Law Commission’s ‘Draft Articles on the Expulsion of Aliens 30 Harv. Human Rights. J. 3 (2017)
Constrained Derogation in Positive Human Rights Regimes in Human Rights in Emergencies (E. Criddle ed. 2016)
Citizenship in The Oxford Handbook of the U.S. Constitution (M. Tushnet et al. eds. 2015)
Discourses of Dignity in Understanding Human Dignity (C. McCrudden ed. 2013)
Subsidiarity in The Oxford Handbook of International Human Rights Law (D. Shelton ed. 2013)
Bi-Level Remedies for Human Rights Violations 55 Harvard Journal of International Law 323 (2014)
Extraterritoriality and the Interest of the United States in Regulating Its Own 99 Cornell Law Review 1441 (2014)
Human Rights and Constitutions in a Complex World 50 Irish Jurist 1 (2013)
The Brakes that Failed: Constitutional Restriction of International Agreements in France 45 Cornell International Law Journal 257 (2012).
The External Reception of Inter-American Human Rights LawQuebec Journal of International Law, 2011, at 99 (Special Edition)
Anti-Ashwander: Constitutional Litigation as a First Resort in France 43 N.Y.U. J. Intl L. & Pol. 15-42 (2010)
A Migrants’ Bill of Rights – Between Restatement and Manifesto 24 Geo. Immig. L.J. 685-93 (2010)
The Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause after Boumediene v. Bush 110 Colum. L. Rev. 537-578 (2010)
Was Bush v. Gore a Human Rights Case? (with Nicholas Hatzis), 25 Const. Commentary 215-227 (2009)
The Extraterritorial Constitution after Boumediene v. Bush 82 S. Cal. L. Rev. 259-290 (2009)
Understanding Global Due Process 23 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 365- 401 (2009)
Import, Export, and Regional Consent in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 19 Eur. J. Int’l L. 101-123 (2008)
The Resilience of Nationality 101 ASIL Proc. 97-99 (2007)
International Law as a Resource in Constitutional Interpretation 30 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Poly 177-189 (2006)
Discretionary Deportation 20 Geo. Immigr. L. J. 611-655 (2006)
On the Adequacy of Direct Review after the REAL ID Act of 2005 51 N.Y.L.S. L. Rev. 133-158 (2006)
John Marshall and the Enemy Alien: A Case Missing from the Canon 9 Green Bag 2d 39-45 (2005) (with Charles F. Hobson)
Wong Wing v. United States: The Bill of Rights Protects Illegal Aliens in Immigration Stories (D. Martin & P. Schuck eds. 2005), 31-50
Extraterritorial Rights and Constitutional Metholodogy after Rasul v. Bush 153 U. Pa. Rev. 2073-2083 (2005)
Talking to Ourselves 16 Eur. J. Int’l L. 139-142 (2005)
The Abiding Significance of Law in Foreign Relations 2004 Sup. Ct. Rev. 111-152 (2005)
Counterterrorist Operations and the Rule of Law 15 Eur. J. Intl L. 1019-1029 (2004)
Closing the Guantanamo Loophole 50 Loyola L. Rev. 1-66 (2004)
The Uses of International Law in Constitutional Interpretation 98 Am. J. Intl L. 82-90 (2004)
Human Rights and Constitutional Rights: Harmony and Dissonance 55 Stan. Rev. 1863-1900 (2003)
Humanitarian Law and Counterterrorist Force 14 Eur. J. Intl L. 283-298 (2003)
On Fascist Honour and Human Dignity: A Sceptical Response in Darker Legacies of Europe 267-273 (Christian Joerges & Navraj Ghaleigh eds., 2003)
Qualitative Migration Controls in the Antebellum United States in Migration Control in the North Atlantic World 106-119 (Andreas Fahrmeir et al. eds. 2003)
The Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause after INS v. St. Cyr 33 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 555-622 (2002)
Book Review [of Citizenship Today: Global Perspectives and Practices, edited by T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Douglas Klusmeyer] 96 Am. J. Intl L. 514-517 (2002)
Constitutionalism and Individual Rights in the Territories in Foreign in a Domestic Sense: Puerto Rico, American Expansion, and the Constitution 182-205 (Christina Duffy Burnett and Burke Marshall eds. 2001)
Jurisdiction and the Rule of Law after the 1996 Immigration Act 113 Harv. Rev. 1963-1998 (2000)
Federal Courts Issues in Immigration Law 78 Tex. L. Rev. 1661-1701 (2000)
Terrorism, Selective Deportation, and the First Amendment after Reno v. AADC 14 Geo. Immig. L.J. 313-346 (2000)
Human Dignity in United States Constitutional Law in Zur Autonomie des Individuums: Liber Amicorum Spiros Simitis 249-271 (Dieter Simon& Manfred Weiss eds. 2000)
The U.S. Constitutional Conception of the Rule of Law and the Rechtsstaatsprinzip of the Grundgesetz in Das Grundgesetz im Prozeß europäischer und globaler Verfassungsentwicklung 253-268 (Ulrich Battis et al. eds. 2000)
The Nationalization of Civil Liberties Revisited, 99 Colum. L. Rev. 1630-1656 (1999)
Comment [on the Right to Family Reunification in the United States] in Einwanderungskontrolle und Menschenrechte B Immigration Control and Human Rights 111-116 (Kay Hailbronner & Eckart Klein eds. 1999)
Equal Protection, General Equality, and Economic Discrimination from a U.S. Perspective 5 Colum. J. Eur. L. 281-311 (1999)
Habeas Corpus, Executive Detention, and Alien Removal 98 Colum. L. Rev. 961-1067 (1998)
Nationality Law in the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany: Structure and Current Problems in Paths to Inclusion: The Integration of Migrants in the United States and Germany 247-297 (Peter Schuck and Rainer Munz, eds. 1998)
Sense and Nonsense about Customary International Law: A Response to Professors Bradley and Goldsmith 66 Fordham L. Rev. 371-392 (1997)
Admissions and Denials: A Dialogic Introduction to the Immigration Law Symposium 29 Conn. L. Rev. 1395-1410 (1997)
The Global Dimension of RFRA 14 Const. Comm. 33-54 (1997)
Subsidiarity, Harmonization, and their Values: Convergence and Divergence in Europe and the United States 2 Colum. J. Eur. L. 573-581 (1996)
Anomalous Zones 48 Stan. L. Rev. 1197-1234 (1996)
Recent Trends in United States Migration Control 38 German Yb. Int’l L. 284-305 (1996)
Aliens as Outlaws: Government Services, Proposition 187, and the Structure of Equal Protection Doctrine 42 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 1425-1452 (1995)
Casey in the Mirror: Abortion, Abuse and the Right to Protection in the United States and Germany 43 Am. J. Comp. L. 273-314 (1995)
Justifying U.S. Naturalization Policies 35 Va. J. Int’l L. 237-278 (1994)
Asylum Reform in Germany: An Interim Report in XVII In Defense of the Alien 155-170 (1994)
Extraterritorial Violation of Human Rights by the United States 9 Amer. U. J. Int’l L. & Pol. 213 (1994)
The Lost Century of American Immigration Law (1776-1875) 93 Colum. Rev. 1833-1901 (1993)
Buffer Zones Against Refugees: Dublin, Schengen, and the German Asylum Amendment 33 Va. J. Int’l L. 503-526 (1993)
Conflict of Constitutions? No Thanks 91 Mich. L. Rev. 939-952 (1993)
Braving the New World in the Nineties 7 St. John’s J. Leg. Commentary 561-569 (1992)
Book Review, “Rhetorical Slavery, Rhetorical Citizenship” 90 Mich. L. Rev. 1276-1290 (1992)
‘We are the People’: Alien Suffrage in German and American Perspective 13 Mich. J. Int’l L. 259-335 (1992)
Whose Constitution? 100 Yale L.J. 909-991 (1991)
Immigration and Judicial Review in the Federal Republic of Germany 23 N.Y.U. J. Int’l L. & Pol. 35-85 (1990)
Book Review, “Variations for Mixed Voices” 137 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1851-1871 (1989) “Law Review Articles That Backfire,” 21 U. Mich. J. L. Ref. 697-720 (1988)
The Constitutional Requirement of `Some Evidence,’ 25 San Diego L. Rev. 631-737 (1988)
Book Review, “Back to Dred Scott?” 24 San Diego L. Rev. 485-500 (1987)
Territorial Discrimination, Equal Protection, and Self-Determination 135 U. Pa. L. Rev. 261-382 (1987)
(with Hon. Abner J. Mikva), “The Hostage Crisis and the `Hostage Act,'” 49 U. Chi. L. Rev. 292-354 (1982)
Rational Surfaces with Too Many Vector Fields Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 76:189 (Sept. 1979)
Other Publications
Interrogating “Discrimination” on the Basis of Chronological Age, Discrimination on the Basis of Chronological Age, November 2022 Workshop Proceedings and Working Papers, HRP Working Paper Series No. 001 (April 2023)
“Another Trump Legacy That Won’t Give Up”, Mar. 28, 2022, Human [email protected] Law, available at https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/staff-reflections/another-trump-legacy-that-wont-give-up/
“Coming to Grips with Populism After Trump”, Nov. 10, 2021, OpenGlobalRights, available at https://www.openglobalrights.org/coming-to-grips-with-populism-after-trump/
Indirect Discrimination, SOGI, and Public Health Measures in the Pandemic, Indirect Discrimination and the COVID-19 Pandemic: February 2021 Workshop Proceedings
What is the Right Against Indirect Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity?, Indirect Discrimination and Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity: October 2020 Workshop Proceedings
“The Supreme Court’s Attack on Habeas Corpus in DHS v. Thuraissigiam,” available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3756433
“Submission to the Commission on Unalienable Rights,” March 18, 2020, available at https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/files/cchr/files/CCDP_007.pdf
“The Draft General Comment on Freedom of Assembly: Might Less Be More?,” Just Security, February 4, 2020, at https://www.justsecurity.org/68465/the-draft- general-comment-on-freedom-of-assembly-might-less-be-more/
“International Organizations and Human Rights—the Need for Substance,” available at https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Gerald-Neuman_HRP- 19_001.pdf
“What Counts as a Crime Against Humanity?,” Harv. Int’l L.J. Online (Jan. 28, 2019), available at https://harvardilj.org/2019/01/what-counts-as-a-crime-against- humanity/
“Neither Facially Legitimate Nor Bona Fide – Why the Very Text of the Travel Ban Shows It’s Unconstitutional,” Just Security, June 9, 2017, at https://www.justsecurity.org/41953/facially-legitimate-bona-fide-why- unconstitutional-travel-ban/
“Has the Human Rights Committee Extended its Reach?”, Just Security, July 29, 2015, at https://www.justsecurity.org/25022/human-rights-committee-extended-reach/
Foreign Language Publications:
Fédéralisme et citoyenneté aux États-Unis et dans l’Union européenne, 21 Critique Internationale (Octobre 2003) 151-169
The Past and Future of Comparative Constitutional Law in the United States: From Comparative Government to Human Rights], 62 Hikakuh Kenky [Comparative Law Journal] 30-43 (2001) (in Japanese)
“Staatsangehörigkeit als Mittel der Integration,” 28 Kritische Justiz 439-449 (1995)
“Ausländerrecht – Rechtsvergleichende Betrachtungen USA – Deutschland,” 10 Datenschutz und Datensicherung 555 (1994)
“Volkssouveränität als Entmündigung des Volkes? — Anmerkungen zum Ausländerwahlrecht aus amerikanischer Sicht,” in Der orientierungslose Leviathan 88-98 (Thomas Kreuder, ed., 1992)
