Professor Russell K. Robinson

Russell K. Robinson is the Walter Perry Johnson Professor of Law and Faculty Director for the Center on Race, Sexuality & Culture at the University of California Berkeley School of Law. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Robinson was Professor of Law at UCLA. Robinson graduated with honors from Harvard Law School (1998), after receiving his B.A. summa cum laude from Hampton University (1995). Robinson clerked for Judge Dorothy Nelson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1998-99) and for Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court (2000-01). He has also worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel (1999-2000) and the firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld in Los Angeles, practicing entertainment law (2001-02).

Robinson’s scholarly and teaching interests include anti-discrimination law, race and sexuality, law and psychology, constitutional law, and media and entertainment law. His publications include: “’Playing It Safe’ with Empirical Evidence: Selective Use of Social Science in Supreme Court Cases About Racial Justice and Marriage Equality,” 112 Northwestern Law Rev. 1565 (2018); “LGBT Equality and Sexual Racism,” 86 Fordham L. Rev. 2739 (2018); “The Afterlife of Homophobia,” 60 Ariz. L. Rev. 213 (2018); “Unequal Protection,” 67 Stan. L. Rev. (2015); “Diverging Identities,” in After Marriage: The Future of LGBT Rights, NYU Press (2015); “Marriage Equality and Postracialism,” 61 UCLA L. Rev. 1010 (2014); “Masculinity as Prison: Sexual Identity, Race, and Incarceration,” 99 Calif. L. Rev. 1309 (2011); “Casting and Caste-ing: Reconciling Artistic Freedom and Antidiscrimination Norms,” 95 Calif. L. Rev. 1 (2007); “Uncovering Covering,” 101 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1809 (2007); “Perceptual Segregation,” 108 Colum. L. Rev. 1093 (2008); “Structural Dimensions of Romantic Preferences,” 76 Fordham L. Rev. 2787 (2008); and “Racing the Closet,” 61 Stan. L. Rev. 1463 (2009).