- Constitutional Law
- Election Law
- Campaigns and Elections (at LMU)
- Money, Politics and the Supreme Court
- Campaign Finance Seminar
- Law and Process: Privacy Torts
- Marital Property
Education
- BA, magna cum laude, valedictorian, Loyola Marymount University
- JD, cum laude, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Order of the Coif
Background
Jessica Levinson’s work focuses on constitutional law, the law of the political process, including election law and governance issues, and the Supreme Court.
Levinson is a legal contributor for CBS News, a columnist for MSNBC, and has a weekly legal segment on NPR member station KCRW. She regularly appears as a legal and political expert on television, radio, podcasts, online outlets, and in print.
Levinson is the founding director of Loyola Law School's Public Service Institute, which is dedicated to creating the next generation of leaders in government service. She is also the director of Loyola Law School’s Journalist Law School.
Levinson served as the President of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. She was appointed by the Los Angeles City Controller in 2013 to serve a five-year term.
While in law school, Levinson was the Senior Articles Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review. Following graduation, Levinson served as a law clerk to the Honorable James V. Selna from 2005-06. She then practiced with the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Professor Levinson began teaching as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola in 2009. From 2008-11, Levinson served as the Director of Political Reform at the Center for Governmental Studies.
Selected Scholarship
- Full Disclosure: The Next Frontier in Campaign Finance Law, 93 Denver L. Rev 231 (2016)
- Taking the Initiative: How to Save Direct Democracy, 18 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 1019 (2014)
- The Original Sin of Campaign Finance Law: Why Buckley v. Valeo is Wrong, 47 U. Rich. L. Rev. 881 (2013)
- We the Corporations? The Constitutionality of Limitations on Corporate Electoral Speech After Citizens United, 46 U.S.F. L. Rev. 307 (2011)
- Timing Is Everything: A New Model for Countering Corruption Without Silencing Speech in Elections, 55 St. Louis U. L.J. 853 (2011)
- Is the Party Over? The Open Primary Process, 44 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 461 (2011)
- Ballot Box Budgeting in California: The Bane of the Golden State or an Overstated Problem?, 37 Hastings Const. L.Q. 101 (2010) (with Bob Stern)
- Bite Your Tongue in Europe: The European Court of Human Rights Strikes a Blow to the Freedom of Expression, 26 Loy. L.A. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 483 (2004)