The Section 1983 Claim Basics

Sheldon H. Nahmod Related Seminars and Products

University Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus (Program Chair)

Chicago-Kent College of Law

Sheldon H. Nahmod is a well-known expert on constitutional law, the First Amendment, civil rights and liberties and the law of Section 1983. He is the author of the three-volume Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Litigation: The Law of Section 1983 (2024-25)(West/Westlaw); A Section 1983 Civil Rights Anthology (1993); a casebook, Constitutional Torts (6th ed. forthcoming in 2025, with Wells, Smith and Smith-Drelich); and numerous law review articles. He has written many certiorari petitions and amicus briefs in the Supreme Court. He has also successfully argued civil rights cases in the Supreme Court and the First, Seventh, Eighth and Tenth Circuits, and consults nationally with attorneys on civil rights, civil liberties and constitutional law issues. In addition, he has lectured on civil rights and civil liberties matters to federal judges and attorneys throughout the country, including founding, organizing and speaking at Chicago-Kent's own annual Conference on Section 1983 for the past 40 years. He lectures to lay groups on constitutional law and the First Amendment, most recently on the Religion Clauses.

Professor Nahmod graduated from the University of Chicago, Harvard Law School and the University of Chicago Divinity School (1996). He practiced with a corporate law firm in Chicago and was a legal services staff attorney before entering academia. He also was a teaching fellow at Harvard Law School, where he earned an LL.M. After joining Chicago-Kent from Duquesne Law School in Pittsburgh, he served as associate dean for three years, and was named IIT University Distinguished Professor in 1992. Over the years he has won awards for his teaching, including the Brill Award from the Student Bar Association. In 2001, he received the Jefferson Fordham Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Section 1983 jurisprudence from the American Bar Association's Section on State and Local Government Law. In 2018, he received the Abner Mikva Award from the Chicago Chapter of the American Constitution Society for his contributions to civil rights and civil liberties. Also in 2018, he was named University Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

Professor Nahmod blogs on Section 1983, constitutional law, the First Amendment and other law-related topics at nahmodlaw.com.