Robert P. George
OF COUNSEL
 
 609-258-3270
 609-258-6837
 Charleston, WV

Areas of Practice

Credentials

  • D.Phil., Oxford University, 1986
  • J.D., Harvard University, 1981
  • M.T.S., Harvard University, 1981
  • B.A., Swarthmore College, 1977

Bar & Court Admissions

Professional Affiliations

  • Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Herbert W. Vaughan Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute
  • Of Counsel, Robinson & McElwee, 1990-present
  • Director, James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University, 2000-present
  • McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University, 1999-present
  • Judicial Fellow, United States Supreme Court, 1989-90
  • Visiting Fellow in Law, New College, Oxford University, 1988-89
  • Lecturer in Jurisprudence, New College, Oxford University, 1982-85

Mr. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University. As Of Counsel to Robinson & McElwee, Mr. George practices in the areas of appellate practice litigation and the litigation of constitutional issues.

Mr. George has extensive experience with state and federal constitutional issues.

Mr. George represents coal companies, banks and other clients in litigation on appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia or federal appellate courts.

In addition to his role with Robinson & McElwee, Mr. George serves Princeton University as McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.

Mr. George is an authority on moral and political philosophy, constitutional law and the western legal tradition. He is the author or editor of numerous books and lectures frequently for universities, professional associations and civic groups.

Mr. George formerly served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. He was also a Presidential Appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Currently, he is a Corresponding Member of the UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology.

Mr. George was appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in 2012 by Speaker of the House John Boehner. In July of 2013 he was elected as the Chair of the Commission and he was sworn in on September 9, 2013.

For his contributions to American academic and civic life and to the advancement of human rights, Mr. George has received numerous awards, including the United States Presidential Citizens Medal and the Honorific Medal for the Defense of Human Rights, presented by the Republic of Poland.

  • Appellate litigation.
  • State and Federal Constitutional issues.
  • United States Commission on Civil Rights, Presidential Appointee, 1993-1998.
  • Member, President’s Council on Bioethics, 2002-2009.
  • Corresponding Member, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural.
  • Organization (UNESCO) World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology, 2010 – present.
  • United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2012 – present
  • Chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2013

Mr. George has lectured and published extensively, including articles in the law reviews of Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, Georgetown University and West Virginia University and in Law and Philosophy and American Journal of Jurisprudence.

Books

  • Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2013
  • Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics (with P. Lee), Cambridge University Press, 2008
  • Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (with C. Tollefsen), Doubleday Publishing Co., 2008
  • The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals (ed. with Jean Bethke Elshtain), Spence Publishing Co., 2006
  • The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis, ISI Books, 2001
  • Constitutional Politics: Essays on Constitution Making, Maintenance, and Change (ed. with S. Barber), Princeton University Press, 2001
  • Great Cases in Constitutional Law (ed.), Princeton University Press, 2000
  • Natural Law and Public Reason (ed. with C. Wolfe), Georgetown University Press, 2000
  • In Defense of Natural Law, Oxford University Press, 1999
  • Natural Law and Moral Inquiry: Ethics, Metaphysics, and Politics in the Work of Germain Grisez (ed.), Georgetown University Press, 1998
  • Natural Law, Liberalism and Morality (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1996
  • The Autonomy of Law: Essays on Legal Positivism (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1996
  • Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality, Oxford University Press, 1993
  • Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1992

Editorial Positions

  • Publication Committee Member, National Affairs
  • Editorial Board Member, American Journal of Jurisprudence
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Law, Philosophy, and Culture
  • Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Biotechnology Law
  • Editorial Board Member, First Things
  • Board of Directors Member, Ethics and Public Policy Center
  • Board of Directors Member, Institute for American Values
  • Board of Directors Member, Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation
  • Board of Directors Member, Center for Individual Rights