Helen Norton

University Distinguished Professor and Rothgerber Chair in Constitutional Law

401 UCB
2450 Kittredge Loop Drive
Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO  80309
Office: 412
Phone: (303) 492-5751
E-mail: helen.norton@colorado.edu

Curriculum Vitae:  View (PDF format)

Educational Background:
J.D.   University of California at Berkeley   1989  
B.A.   Stanford University   1986   with Distinction
Bio:
Helen Norton is University Distinguished Professor and Rothgerber Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of Colorado School of Law. Her scholarly and teaching interests include constitutional law (especially First Amendment and equal protection law), and antidiscrimination law. Before entering academia, Professor Norton served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, on President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, and as Director of Legal and Public Policy at the National Partnership for Women & Families. She currently also serves as Deputy Solicitor General on Constitutional and Civil Rights for Colorado's Attorney General. She has been honored with the Excellence in Teaching Award on multiple occasions and appointed as a University of Colorado Presidential Teaching Scholar. Her work has been published by Cambridge University Press, Duke Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, Stanford Law Review Online, and the Supreme Court Review, among others.

Published Books

The Government's Speech and the Constitution, Cambridge University Press (2019).

Professional Publications

What 21st-Century Free Speech Law Means for Securities Regulation, 99 Notre Dame L. Rev. (forthcoming 2023).
Distrust, Negative First Amendment Theory, and the Regulation of Lies, 22-07 Knight First Amend. Inst. (Oct. 19, 2022).
A Framework for Thinking About the Government's Speech and the Constitution, 2022 U. Illinois L. Rev. 1669 (2022).
Free Speech and Democracy: A Primer for 21st-Century Reformers, 54 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1631 (2021) (with Toni M. Massaro).
Manipulation and the First Amendment, 30 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 221 (2021).
Discrimination, The Speech That Enables It, and the First Amendment, 2020 U. Chi. L. For. 209 (2020).
Powerful Speakers and Their Listeners, 90 University of Colorado Law Review 441 (2019).
Pregnancy and the First Amendment, 87 Fordham L. Rev. 2417 (2019).
(At Least) Thirteen Ways of Looking at Election Lies, 71 Okla. L. Rev. 117 (2018).
Norton (with Toni Massaro & Margot E. Kaminski), Siri-ously 2.0: What Free Speech Rights for Artificial Intelligence Reveal About the First Amendment, 101 Minnesota Law Review 2481 (2017).
Government Speech and the War on Terror, 86 Fordham L. Rev. 543 (2017).
Siri-ously? Free Speech Rights for Artificial Intelligence, 110 NW. U. L. Rev. (2016) (with Toni M. Massaro).
Truth and Lies in the Workplace: Employer Speech and the First Amendment, 101 Minn. L. Rev. (2016).
The Government's Lies and the Constitution, 91 Ind. L.J. 73 (2015).
Government Speech and Political Courage, 68 Stan. L. Rev. Online 61 (2015).
Setting the Tipping Point For Disclosing The Identity of Anonymous Online Speakers: Lessons from Other Disclosure Contexts, 49 Wake Forest L. Rev. 565 (2014).
Lies and the Constitution, 2012 Supreme Ct. Review 161 (2013).
Secrets, Lies, and Disclosures, 27 Journal of Law and Politics 641 (2012).
The Equal Implications of Government's Hateful Speech, 54 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 159 (2012).
Campaign Speech Law With a Twist: When Government is the Speaker, Not the Regulator, 61 Emory L.J. 209 (2011).
Intermediaries and Hate Speech: Fostering Digital Citizenship for the Information Age, 91 Boston U. L. Rev. 1435 (2011) (with Danielle Keats Citron).
The Supreme Court's Post-Racial Turn Towards a Zero-Sum Understanding of Equality, 52 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 197 (2010).
Government Speech 2.0., 87 Denv. U. L. Rev. 899 (2010) (with Danielle Keats Citron).
Constraining Public Employee Speech: Government's Control of Its Workers' Speech to Protect Its Own Expression, 59 Duke L.J. 1 (2009).
The Measure of Government Speech: Identifying Expression's Source, 88 Boston U. L. Rev. 587 (2008).
Re-Shaping Federal Jurisdiction: Congress' Latest Challenge to Judicial Review, 41 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1003 (2006).
Stepping Through Grutter's Open Doors: What the University of Michigan Affirmative Action Cases Mean for Race-Conscious Government Decisionmaking, 78 Temple L. Rev. 543 (2005).
Not for Attribution: Government's Interest in Protecting the Integrity of Its Own Expression, 37 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1317 (2004).
You Can't Ask (or Say) That: The First Amendment Implications of Civil Rights Restrictions on Decisionmaker Speech, 11 William & Mary Bill of Rights. J. 727 (2003).
What Bush v. Gore Means for Elections in the 21st Century, 2 Wyoming L. Rev. 419 (2002).

Book Chapters

Norton (with Toni M. Massaro), Artificial Intelligence and the First Amendment, in Research Handbook on the Law of Artificial Intelligence 353 (Woodrow Barfield ed., Edward Elgar 2018).
What's New is Old Again (And Vice Versa), in Ronald Collins & David Skover, Robotica: Speech Rights and Artificial Intelligence (Cambridge University Press 2018).
Lies To Manipulate, Misappropriate, and Acquire Government Power, in Austin D. Sarat, ed., Law and Lies: Deception and Truth-Telling in the American Legal System (Cambridge University Press 2015).

Courses:

Fall 2025 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Spring 2025 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Spring 2025 Seminar: Special Topics in Constitutional Law LAWS 8120-801
Fall 2024 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Spring 2024 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Spring 2024 Seminar: Special Topics in Constitutional Law LAWS 8120-801
Fall 2023 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Spring 2023 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Fall 2022 Torts LAWS 5425-801
Fall 2022 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Spring 2022 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Spring 2021 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Spring 2021 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Fall 2020 Seminar: Speech, Religion, and Equality: Constitutional Values in Tension LAWS 8035-801
Spring 2020 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-803
Spring 2020 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Fall 2019 Seminar: Speech, Religion, and Equality: Constitutional Values in Tension LAWS 8035-801
Spring 2019 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Spring 2019 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Spring 2018 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Fall 2017 Torts LAWS 5425-802
Fall 2017 First Amendment LAWS 7015-801
Spring 2017 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-804
Fall 2016 Legislation and Regulation LAWS 5205-802
Fall 2016 Legislation and Regulation LAWS 5205-905
Fall 2016 Seminar: Speech, Religion, and Equality: Constitutional Values in Tension LAWS 8035-001
Spring 2016 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-802
Spring 2016 First Amendment LAWS 7015-001
Fall 2015 Problem Solving, Professional Judgment, and Decision Making LAWS 6813-001
Spring 2014 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-801
Fall 2013 Seminar: Speech, Religion, and Equality: Constitutional Values in Tension LAWS 8035-001
Spring 2013 Constitutional Law LAWS 6005-803
Fall 2012 Legislation and Regulation LAWS 5205-802
Fall 2012 Torts LAWS 5425-803



Our Vision

With our roots in Colorado and a global outlook, we are ...

a supportive and diverse educational and scholarly community in a place that inspires vigorous pursuit of ideas, critical analysis, contemplation, and civic engagement to advance knowledge about the law in an open, just society.

Our Mission

To be an outstanding public law school that: provides students with a state-of-the-art legal education and prepares them to serve wisely and with professionalism; advances the development of knowledge through scholarship, testing of new ideas, and challenges to the status quo; and serves as a vehicle and catalyst for meaningful public service, all of which deliver high value to our students and have positive impacts?both locally and globally?on the legal profession and society.