Professor Brownstein has testified on several occasions before various California Senate Committees on legislation promoting religious liberty and bills that raise Establishment Clause concerns. His assistance is often sought by advocacy groups on issues relating to religious liberty and equality. He is a frequent invited lecturer at academic conferences and regularly participates as a speaker or panelist in law related programs before civic, legal, religious, and educational groups. He is the co-author of dozens of Findlaw columns discussing a range of legal issues.

A graduate of Antioch College and Harvard Law School (where he served as a Case Editor of the Harvard Law Review), Brownstein was an attorney in general litigation and corporate practice with the law firm of Tuttle & Taylor in Los Angeles before joining the UC Davis law faculty. From 1977-78, he clerked for the Honorable Frank M. Coffin, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Portland, Maine.

"Most lawyers do not practice constitutional law," Brownstein notes, "but members of the Bar bear a special responsibility for understanding constitutional doctrine and communicating its meaning to non-lawyers. The role that constitutional law plays in our society depends in part on the interplay between courts and the political culture. If judicial decisions are unintelligible to the polity and no group accepts responsibility for explaining the Constitution's evolving meaning to the polity, we undermine part of the foundation of the constitutional scheme of things."

• Recipient of the Davis Human Relations Commission Thong H. Huynh Community Education and Awareness Award, Oct. 2002, Davis, California
• "The Hybrid Nature of Political Rights," 50 Stanford Law Review 915 (with Vikram Amar) (1998)
• Distinguished Teaching Award, 1995
• "How Rights Are Infringed: The Role of Undue Burden Analysis in Constitutional Doctrine," 45 Hastings L.J. 867 (1994).

• How Rights Are Infringed: The Role of Undue Burden Analysis in Constitutional Doctrine, 45 Hastings Law Journal 867 (1994)
• Constitutional Wish Granting and the Property Rights Genie, 13 Constitutional Commentary 7 (1996)
• The Right Not to be John Garvey: A Review of "What Are Freedom For?", by John H. Garvey; 83 Cornell Law Review 767 (1998)
• The Hybrid Nature of Political Rights, 50 Stanford Law Review 915 (1998) (with Vikram Amar)
• The Takings Clause and the Iranian Claims Settlement, 29 U.C.L.A. Law Review 984 (1982)
• What's the Use? A Doctrinal and Policy Critique of the Measurement of Loss of Use Damages, 37 Rutgers Law Review 433 (1985)
• Illicit Legislative Motive in the Land Use Regulation Process, 57 University of Cincinnati Law Review 1 (1988)
• Harmonizing the Heavenly and Earthly Spheres: The Fragmentation and Synthesis of Religion, Equality, and Speech in the Constitution, 51 Ohio State Law Journal 89 (1990)
• Regulating Hate Speech at Public Universities: Are First Amendment Values Functionally Incompatible with Equal Protection Principles?, 39 Buffalo Law Review 1 (1991)
• Pruning Pruneyard: Limiting Free Speech Rights Under State Constitutions on the Property of Private Medical Clinics Providing Abortion Services, 24 U.C. Davis Law Review 1073 (1991) (with Stephen Hankins)
• Pansamientos sobre el papel del Federalismo en el derecho constitucional de Los Estados Unidos, James Smith (ed.) Derecho Constitucional Comparades Mexico-Estados Unidos 259-270 (1990)
• Hate Speech at Public Universities: The Search for an Enforcement Model, 37 Wayne State Law Review 1451 (1991)
• La Protección Otorgada Por La Constitución De Los Estados Unidos A Las Creencias Religiosas Y A Los Grupos Religiosas, 41 Revista De La Facultad De Derecho De Mexico 15 (1991)
• The Constitutional Morality of Abortion, 33 Boston College L. Rev. 689 (1992) (with Paul Dau)
• Hate Speech and Harassment: The Constitutionality of Campus Codes That Prohibit Racial Insults, 3 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 179 (1994)
• Rules of Engagement for Cultural Wars: Regulating Conduct, Unprotected Speech, and Protected Expression in Anti-Abortion Protests, 29 U.C. Davis Law Review 553 (1996)
• Rules of Engagement for Cultural Wars: Regulating Conduct, Unprotected Speech, and Protected Expression in Anti-Abortion Protests - Section II, 29 U.C. Davis Law Review 1163 (1996)
• Constitutional Questions About Charitable Choice in WELFARE REFORM AND FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS, 219 (Derek H. Davis & Barry Hankins, eds., 1999)
• Alternative Maps for Navigating the First Amendment Maze - A Review of "THE FIRST AMENDMENT", by Daniel Farber; 16 Constitutional Commentary 101 (1999)
• State Religious Freedom Protection Acts (RFRA) and Freedom of Speech, 32 UC Davis L. Rev. 605 (1999)
• Evaluating School Voucher Programs Through a Liberty, Equality, and Free Speech Matrix: A Reply to Professor Hamilton, 31 University of Connecticut Law Review 871 (1999)
• Prayer and Religious Expression at High School Graduations: Constitutional Etiquette in a Pluralistic Society, 5 Nexus: A Journal of Opinion 3 (2000)
• Constitutional Questions About Vouchers, 57 New York University Annual Survey of American Law 119 (2000)
• Bush v. Gore and Article II - Pressured Makes Dubious Law, March/April 2001 The Federal Lawyer 27 (with Vikram Amar)
• A Decent Respect for Religious Liberty and Religious Equality: Justice O'Connor's Interpretation of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, 32 McGeorge Law Review 837 (2001)
• The Souter Dissent: Correct but Inadequate in CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS IN CRISIS - DEBATING NEUTRALITY, 151 (Stephen V. Monsma, ed., 2002)
• Protecting Religious Liberty: The False Messiahs of Free Speech Doctrine and Formal Neutrality, 18 The Journal of Law & Politics 119 (2002)
• Reasonable Accommodations Under the ADA - The Supreme Court in Barnett, 5 Green Bag 2d Series 361 (2002) (with Vikram Amar)
• Debating Vouchers After Zelman, 5 Government, Law and Policy Journal 6 (2003)
• Justifying Free Exercise Rights, 1 University of St. Thomas Law Journal 504 (2004)
• Why the Case for Amending the U.S. Constitution to Prohibit or Regulate Gay marriage is 'Not Proved', 32 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly 637 (Fall 2004 and Winter 2005) (with Vikram Amar)
• Academic Freedom, 9 Green Bag 2d Series 17 (2005) (with Vikram Amar)
• THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION CLAUSE - Its Constitutional History and the Contemporary Debate, (Editor) Prometheus Books (2008)
• Religious Freedom, in Global Perspectives on Constitutional Law, (Vikram Amar & Mark Tushnet, eds.) (2009)
• The Nonforum as a First Amendment Category: Bringing Order Out of the Chaos of Free Speech Cases Involving School-Sponsored Speech, 42 UC Davis L. Rev. 717 (2009)
• Global Issues in Freedom of Speech and Religious Liberty, (2009) (with Leslie Jacobs)
• The Constitutionalization of Self-Defense in Tort and Criminal Law, Grammatically-Correct Originalism, and Other Second Amendment Musings, 60 Hastings Law Journal 1205 (2009)
• The Reasons Why Originalism Provides a Weak Foundation for Interpreting Constitutional Provisions Relating to Religion, 2009 Cardoza L. Rev. De Novo 196
• When Avoiding Federal Questions Shouldn't Evade Federal Review Michigan v. Long Meets and Trumps Ashwander v. TVA, 12 Green Bag 2d 381 (2009) (in press)
• Death, Grief, and Freedom of Speech: Does the First Amendment Permit Protection Against Harassment and Commandeering of Funeral Mourners?, 2010 Cardozo Law Review De Novo 368
• Gays, Jews, and Other Strangers in a Strange Land: The Case for Reciprocal Accommodation of Religious Liberty and the Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry, 45 University of San Francisco Law Review ___ (2010) (in press)

Other Publications

Lectures and Presentations