Ronald Garet

Carolyn Craig Franklin Professor of Law and Religion

Download vCard
rgaret@law.usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-2568
Fax: (213) 740-5502
Room: 452

Ronald Garet studies theological ethics and constitutional law, especially in areas where the two fields intersect. He joined USC Law in 1981 and teaches Constitutional Law; Law, Language, and Ethics; and Topics in Constitutional Law and Religious Ethics.

Professor Garet has written about the authority of the Biblical and constitutional text, about methods of textual interpretation in both fields, and about the meaning of narratives of creation and redemption in American constitutionalism. His recent work includes: “Three Concepts of Church Autonomy” (Brigham Young University Law Review, 2004); “Mouth to Mouth, Person to Person” in A Just and True Love: Feminism at the Frontiers of Theological Ethics: Essays in Honor of Margaret A. Farley; and “The Last Full Measure of Devotion: Sacrifice and Textual Authority” (Cardozo Law Review 2006).

He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard, his Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale, and his J.D. from USC Law. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Society for Policy and Legal Philosophy. He has served as the faculty advisor to the Public Interest Law Foundation and as president of the USC faculty during the 2004-2005 academic year.

Works in Progress

• “The Ten Commandments and the Fourteenth Amendment” To be published in a symposium issue of Hebraic Political Studies.
• “‘Our Ancient Faith’: A Translation of the Declaration of Independence” (2001). (Revised as “We Wove our Truths Together,” (2003-2004). - (SSRN)

Articles and Book Chapters

• “Mouth to Mouth, Person to Person” Maura A. Ryan and Brian F. Linnane, S.J., eds. A Just and True Love: Feminism at the Frontiers of Theological Ethics; Essays in Honor of Margaret A. Farley, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).
• "The Last Full Measure of Devotion: Sacrifice and Textual Authority" (Symposium: Text, Tradition and Reason in Comparative Perspective). 28 Cardozo Law Review 277-299 (2006). - (Hein)
• "Three Concepts of Church Autonomy." 2004 Brigham Young University Law Review 1349 (2004). - (Hein)
• "Proclaim Liberty." 74 Southern California Law Review 145 (2000). - (Hein)
• "Judges as Prophets: A Coverian Interpretation." 72 Southern California Law Review 385 (1999). - (Hein)
• "A Tribute to Vice Dean Jerry Wiley." 70 Southern California Law Review 1623 (1997). - (Hein)
• "Deposing Finnis" (Symposium on Natural Law). 4 Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal 605 (1995). - (Hein)
• "Gnostic Due Process" (Symposium: The Sacred Body in Law and Literature). 7 Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities 97 (1995). - (Hein)
• “The Resolution of Independence.” 29 Houston Law Review 867 (1992). - (Hein)
• “Dancing to Music: An Interpretation of Mutuality” 80 Kentucky Law Journal 893 (1992). - (Hein)
• "Creation and Commitment: Lincoln, Thomas, and the Declaration of Independence." 65 Southern California Law Review 1477 (1992). - (Hein)
• "Self-Transformability" (Symposium on Biomedical Technology and Health Care). 65 Southern California Law Review 121 (1991). - (Hein)
• “Natural Law and Creation Stories” J. Roland Pennock and John W. Chapman, ed. Religion, Morality, and the Law: Nomos XXX (New York: New York University Press, 1988), pp.218-262.
• "Meaning and Ending." 96 Yale Law Journal 1801 (1987). - (Hein)
• "Comparative Normative Hermeneutics: Scripture, Literature, Constitution" (Symposium on Interpretation). 58 Southern California Law Review 35 (1984). - (Hein)
• "The Red Bird" (Symposium on Interpretation). 58 Southern California Law Review 237 (1984). - (Hein)

Download Curriculum Vitae