James R. May, Esq. is Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law at Washburn University, where he teaches environmental and constitutional law and human rights, and co-directs the program in environmental, energy and resources law. May is a Kansas native who joined Washburn Law in 2024 after decades in academia elsewhere, including at Widener University, and law schools at Georgetown, Duquesne, Hawai’i, Pace, Pittsburgh, Utah, and Vermont.
May is an award-winning teacher, human rights litigator, and author. As a teacher May was awarded the Albert Young Fellowship in Constitutional Law and the Douglas E. Ray Award at Widener University (Delaware Law), the Robinson Environmental Law Award at Haub School of Law at Pace University, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Kansas School of Law, and membership in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. May was appointed the founding Chief Sustainability Officer at Widener University, where he established the Faculty Executive Council and chaired the Sustainability Council, and chaired committees on hiring, faculty governance, faculty development, and tenure. He is founder of the Global Environmental Rights Institute and the Dignity Rights Institute at Widener University Delaware Law School, where he is Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus.
As a lawyer May has championed causes to promote and protect environmental public health and welfare and human rights. May has litigated human rights and environmental cases pro bono publico throughout the United States, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights, and various UN bodies. May was lead counsel in pioneering cases to restore water quality and conserve threatened and endangered species and to enforce environmental justice and constitutional rights to a clean environment. May also contributed to landmark cases of Juliana v. U.S., American Electric Power v. Connecticut, Village of Kivalina v. U.S., Held v. Montana, Comer v. Murphy Oil, Atencio v. New Mexico, and Massachusetts v. the U.S. EPA, and serves as the Special Legal Advisor to the ABA Task Force on Environmental Justice and on the board of the Dignity Rights Initiative of the ABA Center for Human Rights. For this work May is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the American College of Environmental Lawyers, recipient of the American Bar Association’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy, the Conservation Award from the Sierra Club, and the National Award from the American Canoe Association, and has been recognized by LawDragon and Martindale Hubbard as one of the world’s leading environmental lawyers. May also founded or co-founded the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center (now at Widener University), the Eastern Environmental Law Center (now at Columbia University), and Dignity Rights International.
May has published 20 casebooks and treatises and more than 120 book chapters and articles for Yale, Penn, Cambridge, Oxford, Edward Elgar, Routledge, Hein, UCLA, Case Western and many others. His casebooks include Modern Administrative Law; Modern Environmental Law; Modern First Amendment Law; Climate Rights; and Dignity Law: Global Recognition, Cases and Perspectives. His environmental law treatises include Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law; Environmental Human Rights and the Anthropocene; Encyclopedia of Human Rights and the Environment; and Global Environmental Constitutionalism. His human rights treatises include Advanced Introduction to Human Dignity and the Law; Dignity Under Law: A Global Handbook for Civil Society (2021); Dignity Under Law: A Global Handbook for Jurists (2021); and, Putting Dignity in Practice: Implementing the American Bar Association’s Recognition of Human Dignity As Foundational to the Rule of Law (2023 American Bar Association).
Recent publications include Subnational Climate Rights in America, 26 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 26 (2024); From the Courtroom to the Frontlines: A Roadmap for Advancing Environmental Justice, 50 Human Rts. ___ (2024) with Quentin Pair and Nadia Ahmad; Is There a Human Right to a Healthy Climate?, 50 Human Rts. ___ (2024); Climate Rights in Brazil and the United States: A Convergence in Contrasts, 56 Case W. Res. Int’l L. 439 (2024), with Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas and Luciene Bauer; Critique of Juspositivist Theory of Judicial Decision, 29 Novos Estudos Juridicos 1 (2024), with Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas and Orlando Luiz Zanon; "Still Not at All: Environmental Sustainability in the Supreme Court," 92 UMKC L. Rev., 724 (2024); “Can the Constitution Save the Planet?,” in Democracy in a Hotter Time: Climate Change and Democratic Transformation (David W. Orr, ed., MIT Press 2023), with Katarina Fischer Kuh; “Environment and Economic and Social Rights,” The Oxford Handbook of Economic and Social Rights (Cambridge University Press, with Erin Daly; Introduction to Dignity Law, 17 Jrnl Disaster Res. 301 (2022), with Erin Daly; “Making Sense of Environmental Human Rights and Global Environmental Constitutionalism,” The Routledge Encyclopedia of International Environmental Law, 2021; “Putting Dignity in Practice: Implementing the American Bar Association’s Recognition of Human Dignity As Foundational to the Rule of Law,” American Bar Association, Center for Human Rights 2021, with Erin Daly, SSRN here; “The Indivisibility of Human Dignity and Sustainability,” The Cambridge Handbook on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development, Edited by Sumudu Atapattu, Carmen G. Gonzalez and Sara Seck, Cambridge University Press 2021, with Erin Daly; Dignity Rights for a Pandemic, 17 Law Culture, and the Humanities (2021); “The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Dignity Under Law,” in International Environmental Lawmaking and Diplomacy Review 2019, 15-33 (University of Eastern Finland) (Tuula Honkonen & Seita Romppanen, eds.), with Erin Daly; Human Dignity and Environmental Outcomes in Pakistan, 10 Pakistan L. Rev. 1 (2019), with Erin Daly; Why Dignity Rights Matter, 19 European Human Rights L. Rev. 129 (2019); “Dignity Law and Practice in America,” Report to the House of Delegates (2020 American Bar Association).
May received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Bowman Scholar) and J.D. (National Environmental Law Moot Court Champion) from the University of Kansas and LL.M. in Environmental Law from Haub School of Law at Pace University (Feldshuh Fellow).
Articles in Law Reviews and Other Scholarly Journals
"Subnational Climate Rights in America," 26 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 1237 (2024).
"Critique of the Juspositivist Theory of Judicial Decision," 29 Novos Estudos Juridicos 1 (2024) (with Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas and Orlando Luiz Zanon).
"Climate Rights in Brazil and the United States: A Convergence in Contrasts," 56 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 439 (2024) (with Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas and Luciana Bauer).
"Still Not at All: Environmental Sustainability in the Supreme Court," 92 UMKC Law Review 724 (2024).
"Dignity Rights for a Pandemic," 20 Law, Culture and the Humanities 21 (2024) (with Erin Daly) [DOI].
"Environmental Protection and Human Rights in the Pandemic," 1 Legal Policy & Pandemics: The Journal of the Global Pandemic Network 317 (2021) (with Maria Antonia Tigre, Alexandra Harrington, Natalia Urzola, et al).
"Can the U.S. Constitution Accommodate a Right to a Stable Climate? (Yes, it Can.)," 39 UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy 39 (2021) (with Erin Daly).
"The Case for Environmental Rights: Recognition, Implementation and Outcomes," 42 Cardozo Law Review 983 (2021).
"Why Dignity Rights Matter," 19 European Human Rights Law Review 129 (2019) (with Erin Daly).
"Brief of Amicus Curiae Law Professors in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees' Answering Brief," 25 Widener Law Review 285 (2019) (with Erin Daly).
"Dignity and Environmental Justice in Nigeria: The Case of Gbemre v. Shell," 25 Widener Law Review 269 (2019) (with Tiwajopelo Dayo).
"Exploring Environmental Justice Through the Lens of Human Dignity," 25 Widener Law Review 177 (2019) (with Erin Daly).
"Human Dignity and Environmental Outcomes in Pakistan," 10 Pakistan Law Review 1 (2019) (with Erin Daly).
"Sustainability Constitutionalism," 86 UMKC Law Review 855 (2018).
"Comparative Environmental Constitutionalism," 6 Jindal Global Law Review 9 (2015) (with Erin Daly).
Books and Monographs
Environmental Rights: Recognition, Implementation, Outcomes, And Alternatives (Edward Elgar, forthcoming).
Climate Rights: Cases And Contexts (Lulu Press 2024).
Modern Administrative Law (Lulu Press 2023).
Modern Environmental Law (Lulu Press 2023).
Principles of First Amendment Law (Lulu Press 2022).
Judicial Handbook On Environmental Rights and Defenders (United Nations Environment Programme, 2022) (with Erin Daly).
Dignity Under Law: A Global Handbook for Civil Society (Dignity Rights International, 2021) (with Erin Daly).
Dignity Under Law: A Global Handbook for Jurists (Dignity Rights International, 2021) (with Erin Daly)
Dignity Law: Global Recognition, Cases and Perspectives (W.S. Hein 2020) (with Erin Daly).
Advanced Introduction To Human Dignity And The Law, Elgar Advanced Introductions Series (Edward Elgar 2020) (with Erin Daly).
Global Judicial Handbook On Environmental Constitutionalism, 3rd ed. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2019), (with Erin Daly).
Compendium of Global Environmental Constitutionalism, 2nd ed. (United Nations Environment 2019) (with Erin Daly).
Chapters in Books
"Environmental Justice" in Environment, Energy, and Resources Law: The Year in Review 2023 (Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association, 2023).
"Introduction: Environmental Human Rights and the Anthropocene" in Environmental Human Rights in the Anthropocene: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges (Walter F. Baber, James R. May, eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2023) (with Walter F. Baber).
"Socioeconomic and Cultural Rights and the Anthropocene" in Environmental Human Rights in the Anthropocene: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges (Walter F. Baber, James R. May, eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
"Conclusion: Environmental Human Rights in the Anthropocene" in Environmental Human Rights in the Anthropocene: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges (Walter F. Baber, James R. May, eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2023) (with Walter F. Baber).
"Can the Constitution Save the Planet?" Democracy in a Hotter Time: Climate Change and Democratic Transformation (David W. Orr, ed.) (MIT Press, 2023) (with Katrina Fischer Kuh).
"Constitutional Environmental Rights, and Rights for the Environment," in Routledge Handbook of International Environmental Law (Erika Techera et al., eds) (Routledge, 2021)
"The Indivisibility of Human Dignity and Sustainability" in The Cambridge Handbook on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development (Sumudu Atapattu, Carmen G. Gonzalez and Sara Seck, eds.) (Cambridge University Press, 2021) (with Erin Daly).
"Emergence et Regression de la Notion de Democratie Environnementale Aux Etats-Unis (The Growth and Retreat of Environmental Democracy in the United States)" in Constitutional Environmental Law (M.-A. Cohendet, ed.) (Mare and Martin, 2020) (with Erin Daly).
"De Nouveaux Droits et Principes Pour L’Environnement (New Rights and Principles for the Environment)," en Droit Constitutionnel de l’Environnement, Regards Croisés (Constitutional Law of the Environment, Different Perspectives) (M.-A. Cohendet, dir.) (Mare et Martin, 2020) (avec Erin Daly).
"L'exemple de la doctrine du Public trust aux Etats-Unis (The Public Trust Doctrine in the United States)," in Constitutional Environmental Law (M.-A. Cohendet, ed.) (Mare and Martin, 2020) (with Erin Daly).
"Environmental Rights and Wrongs: Implementing Environmental Constitutionalism" in Eivind Smith Festschrift, (Marius Gulbranson Nordby et al., eds.) (University of Oslo Press, 2020).
"The Role of Human Dignity in Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals" in International Environmental Law-making and Diplomacy Review 2019 (Tuula Honkonen and Seita Romppanen, eds.)(University of Eastern Finland & UN Environment, 2020) (with Erin Daly).
"The Norwegian Constitutional Right to a Healthy Environment in Global Context" in Mellom Jus Og Politikk, Grunnloven, Section 112 (Ole Kristian Fauchald and Eivind Smith, eds.) (Fagbokforlaget, 2019).
"Six Trends in Global Environmental Constitutionalism" in Environmental Constitutionalism: What Impact on Legal Systems? (Jochen Sohnle, ed.) (Peter Lang, 2019) (with Erin Daly).
"Global Climate Constitutionalism and Justice in the Courts," in Research Handbook on Global Climate Constitutionalism (Jordi Jaria-Manzano et al. eds.) (Edward Elgar, 2019) (with Erin Daly).
"Constitutionalism and Climate Justice," in Using Constitutions to Advance Environmental Rights and Achieve Climate Justice, Asia- Pacific Judicial Colloquium on Climate Change (Lahore, Pakistan, 2018) (with Erin Daly).
"Synopsis of Environmental Constitutionalism and Climate Justice," in Using Constitutions to Advance Environmental Rights and Achieve Climate Justice, Asia- Pacific Judicial Colloquium on Climate Change (Lahore, Pakistan, 2018) (with Erin Daly).
"The Environment and International Society: Issues, Concepts, and Context," in Routledge Handbook of International Environmental Law (Shawkat Alam et al., eds.) (Routledge, 2012) (with J. Patrick Kelly).
Other Publications
"From the Courtroom to the Frontlines: A Roadmap for Advancing Environmental Justice, " 50 Human Rights Magazine (2024) (with Quentin Pair and Nadia B. Ahmad).
"Is There a Human Right to a Healthy Climate?," 50 Human Rights Magazine (2024).
"Climate Displacement, Managed Retreat, and Constitutional Revolution," 39 Natural Resources & Environment 1 (American Bar Association, Summer 2024) (with Ira R Feldman).
Co-authored, "Amici Curiae in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Reconsideration En Banc," Juliana v. United States, United States Court of Appeals for The Ninth Circuit, No. 24-684, June 28, 2024.
"Subnational Dignity Rights in America," (2023).
"Putting Dignity in Practice: Implementing the American Bar Association’s Recognition of Human Dignity As Foundational to the Rule of Law," American Bar Association, Center for Human Rights (2020).
"Migration with Dignity," (August 2020) (with Dr. Glykeria Teji and Erin Daly).
"Making Sense of Environmental Human Rights and Global Environmental Constitutionalism," (2020)
"Atlas of Statelessness: Dignity," Atlas of the Stateless for the Association Rosa Luxemburg (2020) (with Erin Daly).
"Dignity Rights for a Pandemic," Law, Culture, and the Humanities: Legality and Dignity (2020) (with Erin Daly).
"Selected Recent Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2019," 12 Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2019).
"Selected Recent Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2018," 11 Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2018).
"Global Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene," 9 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 226 (2018) (Book Review) [DOI].
"Selected Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2017: ESA, NEPA & Standing," Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2017).
"Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2016: Justice Scalia and the Impact of Transition on Federal Decisions," Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2016).
"Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2015," Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2015).
"Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2014," 7 Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2014).
"Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2013," 6 Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2013).
"Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2012," 5 Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2012).
"Major Federal Environmental Decisions, 2011," 4 Environmental Law Forum (Pennsylvania Bar Institute 2011).
"2009 Year in Review: Constitutional Law," American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (2010).
"2008 Year in Review: Constitutional Law," American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (2009).
"2007 Year in Review: Constitutional Law," American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (2008).
"2006 Year in Review: Constitutional Law," American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (2007).
Media Engagement
"Interview with James May - Dignity Rights," Cylindr Magazine, September 3, 2024.
Interviewed, "Sustainability as a Legal Concept" for the Podcast Liminal Spaces, August 27, 2024.
Presentations
"Dignity Rights in America," 2024 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, hosted by the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, Columbia University Teachers College, in cooperation with the World Dignity University Initiative, New York City, New York, December 6, 2024.
"Climate Displacement and the Constitution," Climate-related Displacement in the US webinar, George Washington University School of Law, Washington, D.C., November 12, 2024.
"Dignity Rights in America," Ankara University Faculty of Law, Ankara, Turkey, November 7, 2024.
"The End of American Apartheid," 100th Anniversary of the Turkish Constitution, Ankara University Faculty of Law, Ankara, Turkey, November 5, 2024.
Panel chair, "Novel Applications of Law in Pursuit of Improved Environmental and Climate Governance," 2024 Annual Conference of the Environmental Law Association of South Africa, hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, Wits School of Law, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 5, 2024.
Panelist, "Administrative and Environmental Fallout in the Aftermath of Loper Bright – the End of Chevron Deference," 30th Annual Life in the Big City CLE Conference, City of Philadelphia Law Department, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 9, 2024.
"Climate Rights in the United States," The Natural World, Sustainable Development Goals and the Law Symposium, hosted by The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), the United Nations Environment Programme and the University of Cambridge, July 29, 2024.
"Sustainability in the U.S. Court System," and "Subnational Climate Rights in the United States," at the 21st Annual Colloquium of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Academy of Environmental Law, hosted by Gajaret National Law University Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, and sponsored by (among others) IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, July 4 - 7, 2024.
Professional Services
As Founder and Special Advisor to the ABA's Environmental Justice Task Force, attended the American Bar Association's first Environmental Justice symposium, Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C., November 15, 2024.
Invited to Mexico City as one of two representatives from the United States to attend the 16th InterAmerican Congress on Constitutional Rights, celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Constitution of Mexico, October 25, 2024.
Discussant, "Democracy, Dignity and Climate Change," at the book launch for Democracy in a Hotter Time: Climate Change and Democratic Transformation (David W. Orr, ed.) (MIT Press, 2023), Arizona State University Tempe Campus, Arizona, August 27, 2024.
Honors and Awards
Recipient, Beacon of Dignity Award from the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Institute, at their Annual World Dignity University Initiative Workshop, Columbia University Teachers College, New York City, New York, December 6, 2024.
