Pratheepan Gulasekaram

Professor of Law

Professor Gulasekaram teaches Constitutional Law and Immigration Law. His research focuses on the constitutional rights of noncitizens and federalism concerns in immigration law. He is co-author of the leading immigration law casebook used in law schools (Immigration & Citizenship: Process and Policy (West Academic 9th Ed. 2021)). His book, The New Immigration Federalism, provides an in-depth empirical and theoretical analysis of the resurgence of state and local immigration lawmaking. He has also extensively explored the relationship between the Second Amendment and immigrants, as a way of understanding constitutional protections for noncitizens. In addition to his scholarly publications, Professor Gulasekaram frequently comments on constitutional and immigration developments for media outlets, and contributes opinion pieces for the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, and blogs for various national outlets. He is a graduate of Brown University and Stanford Law School.

Professor Gulasekaram joined the Santa Clara University School of Law faculty in 2007. He has also taught as Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School, Berkeley Law School, University of California Berkeley, and as Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at New York University School of Law. Prior to academia, he was a litigation associate with O’Melveny & Meyers LLP and Susman Godfrey LLP, both in Los Angeles. He clerked for the Honorable Jacques L. Wiener Jr. on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. In addition, he is the co-founder of the World Children’s Initiative, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to improving health and educational infrastructure for children in developing areas around the world. www.wciprojects.org

Education

J.D., Stanford University, 2001

B.A., Brown University, 1996

Areas of Specialization

Constitutional Law, Immigration Law, Citizenship and the Rights of Noncitizens, State and Local Immigration Laws

Other Links

Currently Teaching

Immigration Law Fall 2022
Constitutional Law I Fall 2022