Program Book for the 250th Anniversary - Flipbook - Page 23
KEN GORMLEY
Ken Gormley is Chancellor and Professor of Law at Duquesne University. He previously served for 10 years as President
of Duquesne University and for seven years as Dean of the Thomas R. Kline School of Law. He joined the faculty in 1994,
after teaching at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and engaging in private practice. Gormley earned his B.A. from
the University of Pittsburgh in 1977, summa cum laude. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1980, serving as a
teaching assistant to Professor Archibald Cox in Constitutional Law.
Gormley’s work has earned him a reputation as a highly-respected Constitutional scholar, in Pennsylvania and nationally. In
1997, he published Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation (Perseus Books), the authorized biography of one of the leading
lawyers and public servants of the 20th century. The Cox book was awarded the 1999 Bruce K. Gould Book Award for an
outstanding publication relating to the law.
In 2010, Gormley published The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr (Crown), a New York Times bestseller
chronicling the scandals that nearly destroyed the Clinton Presidency. The Death of American Virtue received a 2011 Silver
Gavel Award (Honorable Mention) from the American Bar Association as well as critical acclaim in publications including
the New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice), Washington Post Book World, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times,
Atlantic magazine and dozens of others.
Gormley’s most recent nonfiction book, Presidents and the Constitution: A Living History, was published by NYU Press in
2016 (with a paperback edition in 2022), and has likewise received national acclaim.
An expert in state constitutional law, Gormley is also principal editor of The Pennsylvania Constitution: A Treatise on Rights
and Liberties (Bisel, 2004), the leading treatise on the Pennsylvania Constitution that has been cited by thousands of
courts in Pennsylvania and around the country. The second edition of that treatise (Gormley & McNally) was published by
Bisel in 2020 and is updated annually.
Gormley has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, NPR’s Fresh Air, and hundreds of television and radio shows in the United
States and worldwide. As a constitutional expert, Gormley has testified in the United States Senate three times. He has also
testified in the Pennsylvania Senate on State Constitutional matters.
Gormley formerly served as President of the Allegheny County Bar Association, the first academic to hold that position in
the organization’s 137-year history. From 1998-2001, Gormley served as Mayor of Forest Hills, Pennsylvania. He lives there
with his wife, Laura. They have four children and six grandchildren.
