Charles “Rocky” Rhodes

About Charles “Rocky” Rhodes

Charles W. “Rocky” Rhodes is the Edward H. Hunvald Professor of Law and Wall Fellow in Constitutional Law at the University of Missouri School of Law. His teaching and scholarship center on the United States Constitution, state constitutions, and federal and state judicial power and procedure.

He is the author or co-author of six textbooks and treatises on constitutional law and state constitutional law, including Constitutional Law: Foundations, Interpretations, and Commentaries; The Texas Constitution in State and Nation: Comparative State Constitutional Law in the Federal System; and the forthcoming two-volume treatise Rhodes & Usman on State Constitutional Law. His scholarship also includes more than thirty law review articles and essays appearing in journals such as the U.C. Davis Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Florida Law Review, Cornell Law Review Online, Texas A&M Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal Online, Florida State University Law Review, Tulane Law Review, and American University Law Review. His writings address a wide variety of constitutional and procedural issues, such as due process rights, free speech protections, state constitutionalism, civil rights, adjudicative jurisdiction, federal court practice, conflict of laws, appellate procedure, and judicial appointments. More than forty judicial decisions cite his scholarship, including citations by five of the federal circuit courts of appeals and seven different state supreme courts.

Before joining the Mizzou Law faculty, Professor Rhodes was the Charles Weigel II Research Professor of State and Federal Constitutional Law at South Texas College of Law Houston. During his tenure at South Texas, he received awards four times for teaching excellence and three times for scholarly accomplishments. He has also previously taught at Baylor Law School and as a constitutional law visitor at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.

His media appearances include interviews on constitutional and procedural topics by international, national, and statewide outlets such as CNN, NPR’s Morning Edition, BBC Radio’s World Business Report, NPR’s All Things Considered, and Bloomberg Radio. His commentary and insights on legal issues also appear in numerous newspaper and magazine articles, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, Daily Mirror (U.K.), ABA Journal, BNA U.S. Law Week, and American Lawyer.

He earned his undergraduate degree summa cum laude while on a National Merit Scholarship at Baylor University before enrolling at Baylor Law School, where he was Editor in Chief of the Baylor Law Review, the President’s Award recipient as the outstanding third-year student, and valedictorian of his graduating law school class. Before entering academia, he served as a law clerk and a staff attorney at the Supreme Court of Texas, practiced appellate law at the national law firm now known as Troutman Pepper Locke, and earned his board certification in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He remains actively involved in professional practice, testifying before legislatures, lecturing in continuing legal education programs, and authoring or co-authoring amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court and state supreme courts on constitutional and procedural topics.

Areas of Expertise

  • Constitutional Law
  • First Amendment Law
  • Federal Courts
  • Remedies
  • State and Federal Civil Procedure
  • State Constitutional Law
  • United States Supreme Court

Educational Background

  • BBA, Baylor University
  • JD, Baylor University School of Law

Recent Publications

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