
Daniel Epps
Associate Professor of Law
Professor Daniel Epps teaches first-year criminal law, upper-level courses in criminal procedure, and a seminar on public law theory. His research analyzes the criminal justice system using the tools and insights of structural public law and institutional design; he also researches and writes about constitutional law and theory and federal courts. His scholarship has appeared or will appear in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Michigan Law Review, the NYU Law Review, and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and his writing for popular audiences has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, Vox, and The Atlantic.
Professor Epps is a nationally recognized expert on the Supreme Court. An experienced Supreme Court litigator, he most recently served as co-counsel for the defendant in Ocasio v. United States, which addressed the scope of criminal conspiracy liability for public-sector extortion. His other notable prior work includes the successful petition for certiorari and merits briefing in Walden v. Fiore; a brief for the Court-appointed amicus curiae in Millbrook v. United States; and an amicus brief for criminal law and procedure scholars in United States v. Davila. He also served as co-counsel on the brief of Prof. Stephen E. Sachs as amicus curiae in Atlantic Marine Construction Co. v. U.S. District Court (with Jeffrey S. Bucholtz & Stephen E. Sachs), which The Green Bag Almanac & Reader included on its list of “Exemplary Legal Writing” for 2013.
Professor Epps received his A.B. summa cum laude with highest distinction in Philosophy from Duke University and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Articles Co-Chair of the Harvard Law Review and won the John M. Olin Law & Economics prize. After law school, he clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States. He then spent several years as an appellate specialist at King & Spalding LLP in Washington, D.C. While in practice, he also served as a Lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he co-taught a course called “Supreme Court Decisionmaking.” Immediately prior to joining Washington University Law, he was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School.
- Education
- J.D. magna cum laude, Harvard Law School, 2008
- A.B. summa cum laude (with highest distinction in Philosophy), Duke University, 2004
- Courses
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Procedure: Adjudication
- Criminal Procedure: Investigation
- Public Law Theory
- Areas of Expertise
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Procedure
- Constitutional Law & Theory
- Federal Courts
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Publications
Articles & Essays
- “The Defender General,” 168 University of Pennsylvania Law Review __ (forthcoming 2020) (with Will Ortman)
- “How to Save the Supreme Court,” 129 Yale Law Journal __ (forthcoming 2019) (with Ganesh Sitaraman)
- “Harmless Errors and Substantial Rights,” 131 Harvard Law Review 2117 (2018)
- “The Lottery Docket,” 116 Michigan Law Review 705 (2018) (with William Ortman)
- “Adversarial Asymmetry in the Criminal Process,” 91 New York University Law Review 762 (2016)
- “One Last Word on the Blackstone Principle,” 101 Virginia Law Review Online 34 (2016)
- “The Consequences of Error in Criminal Justice,” 128 Harvard Law Review 1065 (2015)
- Note, “Mechanisms of Secrecy,” 121 Harvard Law Review 1556 (2008)
Selected Commentary
- “How to Save the Supreme Court,” Vox (Oct. 10, 2018) (with Ganesh Sitaraman)
- “Police Officers Are Bypassing Juries to Face Judges,” Washington Post (Sept. 21, 2017)
- Contributor, “An Annotated Constitution,” New York Times Magazine (July 2, 2017)
- “In Health Care Ruling, Roberts Steals a Move from John Marshall’s Playbook,” The Atlantic (June 28, 2012)
- Honors and Awards
- Honorable Mention, Scholarly Papers Competition, American Association of Law Schools (2018) (for The Lottery Docket)
- Finalist, Junior Scholars Paper Competition, Criminal Justice Section, American Association of Law Schools (2016) (for Adversarial Asymmetry in the Criminal Process)
- Exemplary Legal Writing, The Green Bag Almanac & Reader (2013) (for Brief of Professor Stephen E. Sachs as Amicus Curiae, Atlantic Marine Construction Co. v. U.S. District Court, 134 S. Ct. 568 (2013) (as co-counsel with Jeffrey S. Bucholtz & Stephen E. Sachs))
- Download CV