Bradley A. Smith is the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law at Capital University Law School. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Goldwater Institute. One of the nation’s leading authorities on election law and campaign finance, Professor Smith was nominated by President Clinton to a seat on the Federal Election Commission in 2000, where he served for five years, including serving as Commission Chairman in 2004.
Professor Smith’s writings have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, Harvard Journal of Regulation, Pennsylvania Law Review, and other leading law journals. He is the author of the widely acclaimed book Unfree Speech: The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform (2001). Professor Smith also writes regularly for popular publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and National Review. His academic work has been cited in a number of Supreme Court decisions, including the majority opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Elections, decided in 2010.
Professor Smith is a frequent guest lecturer at the nation’s law schools and has made many media appearances on network and cable television programs. He represented the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights as an election observer overseas and has addressed election officials from developing democracies.
In 2005, Professor Smith founded the Center for Competitive Politics, of which he continues to serve as Chairman. Through the Center, he has filed amicus briefs in numerous campaign finance and political speech cases at the Supreme Court. Prior to attending Harvard Law School, Professor Smith served as U.S. Vice Consul in Equador and as Executive Director of the Small Business Association in Michigan.
