University of North Carolina School of Law

Marshall, William P.

NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW 
Volume 102 Number 5 Article 2 
6-1-2024 
Walter Dellinger and the Path of Constitutional Law 
William P. Marshall 
wpm@email.unc.edu 
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Recommended Citation 
William P. Marshall, Walter Dellinger and the Path of Constitutional Law, 102 N.C. L. REV. 1317 (2024). 
Available at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol102/iss5/2 
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102 N.C. L. REV. 1317 (2024) 
 
FOREWORD: WALTER DELLINGER AND THE 
PATH OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW* 
WILLIAM P. MARSHALL** 
The path of constitutional law is not marked only by judicial decisions. It 
is framed by the litigants who present their arguments before the courts. It is 
constructed by the legal advisors who counsel those in authority on the limits 
of their power. It is fashioned by the scholars who seek truths in history, text, 
precedent, and foundational principles. It is shaped by the op-ed writers and 
media commentators who influence public discourse. It is preserved by the 
professors who pass their knowledge to their students and by the mentors who 
nurture future leaders who will carry on their mission. And it is emblazoned by 
the pioneers who devote their lives to the cause of justice. 
Walter Dellinger was all of these things. As a litigant in the Office of the 
Solicitor General, where he served as the Acting Solicitor General, and then as 
an attorney with O’Melveny and Myers, he argued 24 cases before the Supreme 
Court, including some of the most important cases of the last thirty years. These 
include District of Columbia v. Heller1 (Second Amendment), Clinton v. Jones2 
(presidential immunity from suit), Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church 
& School v. EEOC3 (the ministerial exception to Civil Rights laws), Washington 
v. Glucksberg4 (physician-assisted suicide), Hunt v. Cromartie5 (North Carolina 
racial gerrymandering), Turner Broadcasting System v. FCC6 (FCC must-carry 
rules), Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York7 (abortion protests), 
Printz v. United States8 (anti-commandeering), and City of Boerne v. Flores9 
(Congress’s power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment). 
As an advisor, he counselled the Clinton Administration as an attorney in 
the Office of the White House Counsel and then as the head of the Office of 
 
 *  © 2024 William P. Marshall. 
 **  William Rand Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina 
School of Law. 
 1. 554 U.S. 570 (2008). 
 2. 520 U.S. 681 (1997). 
 3. 565 U.S. 171 (2012). 
 4. 521 U.S. 702 (1997). 
 5. 526 U.S. 541 (1999). 
 6. 520 U.S. 180 (1997). 
 7. 519 U.S. 357 (1997). 
 8. 521 U.S. 898 (1997). 
 9. 521 U.S. 507 (1997). 
102 N.C. L. REV. 1317 (2024) 
1318 NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 102 
 
Legal Counsel, where he authored some of the most important legal memoranda 
ever produced by that Office. He later played key roles in advising the Obama 
and Biden Administrations and in working with former Solicitors General Seth 
Waxman and Donald Verrilli on the complex and explosive legal issues that 
surrounded the 2020 election. 
As a frequent op-ed writer and media commentator, he made 
constitutional law accessible to millions of readers and viewers. As a scholar, he 
wrote groundbreaking articles on a full range of constitutional issues, applying 
precision and rigor to each of his writings. As a professor, he inspired countless 
students with his charismatic teaching, imparting his own profound sense of 
constitutional meaning and history. As a mentor, he nurtured some of the best 
legal minds this country has ever seen, including many of whom are now on the 
bench or in academia and many of whom are also present at this Symposium. 
By any measure, then, the influence of Walter Dellinger on the path of 
constitutional law cannot be overstated. He unequivocally stands as one of the 
most important figures in the history of American Constitutional Law. It is 
therefore not surprising that the imprint of his footsteps can be seen in almost 
every area of constitutional law: racial justice, freedoms of speech and religion, 
gender equality, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, election law, separation of 
powers, the Second Amendment, government lawyering, legal history, the 
amendment process, and constitutional theory. So in the pages that follow, and 
in a format that Walter would have most enjoyed, a cadre of our Nation’s 
leading academics will directly engage his ideas and his legacy. 
Before proceeding to these essays, however, two other essential aspects of 
Walter’s legacy must be underscored. The first is Walter’s commitment to civil 
rights. Walter’s devotion to the cause of racial justice was lifelong, passionate, 
and self-defining. But it was never easy. Walter grew up in the segregated South 
(Charlotte) and became involved in the Civil Rights movement at an early age, 
often accepting ostracization and at times risking bodily harm as the price of his 
principles. Indeed, his early embrace of civil rights was so strong that while an 
undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, he received the Frank 
Porter Graham Award for the Senior with the most outstanding commitment 
to the ideals of equality, dignity, and community. His sensitivity to racial 
injustice, moreover, was relentless. He saw social inequities where most would 
not notice and he believed those inequities had to be combatted on all fronts. 
And though he knew that the odds were often against him, he had an 
irrepressible optimism that somehow adherence to the Constitution and the rule 
of law would erase those inequities and make this a better world. 
The second is Walter’s great gift as a storyteller. As shown in his own 
manuscript in this Symposium: Reflections on Race, the Constitution, and Growing 
Up in the Segregated South, Walter had an encyclopedic mind regarding music, 
102 N.C. L. REV. 1317 (2024) 
2024] FOREWORD 1319 
 
sports, history, and popular culture and was able to seamlessly weave facts from 
those disciplines along with his own experiences into stories that held moral and 
legal significance. And through his storytelling, he made constitutional law real 
and relatable and therefore all the more powerful. 
It is therefore fitting that this Symposium is entitled Walter Dellinger and 
the Path of Constitutional Law, as few individuals have influenced the course of 
constitutional law as much as he has. True, the path of constitutional law has 
not always led in the exact direction that Walter most desired, but that path was 
always wider and fuller because his efforts. And, it just might be that because 
of the power of his legacy, the seeds of equity and social justice that he planted 
by the side of that path will someday yet grow to fruition. 
  
102 N.C. L. REV. 1317 (2024) 
1320 NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 102 
 
 


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