Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz is professor of law and Adrian Van Kaam C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence at Duquesne Law School where he specializes in Law and Religion, Jurisprudence and Pennsylvania and federal Constitutional Law. Ledewitz is co-director of the Duquesne University School of Law's Pennsylvania Constitution website. In 1981, Ledewitz founded the Allegheny County Death Penalty Project, which he directed for 13 years. He co-founded the Western Pennsylvania Coalition Against the Death Penalty and served from 1985-1990 as secretary of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. He is past winner of the Allegheny County Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Liberty Award, the Marjorie Matson Civil Liberties Award and the Inaugural Dr. John & Liz Murray Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship in 2012 and then again in 2017.

Ledewitz writes and speaks widely on a variety of legal and religious topics, in both legal journals and popular media. He is the author of four books: American Religious Democracy: Coming to Terms with the End of Secular Politics (2007), Hallowed Secularism: Theory, Belief, and Practice (2009), Church, State, and the Crisis in American Secularism (2011) and The Universe Is On our Side: Restoring Faith in American Public Life. He is a regular op-ed contributor to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star as well as his own blog, Hallowed Secularism. Ledewitz received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and his J.D. from Yale Law School.