Robert G. Natelson is one of America's best-known constitutional scholars. For 23 years, he served as Professor of Law at the University of Montana, where he taught Constitutional Law and became a recognized national expert on the framing and adoption of the United States Constitution. He pioneered the use of source material, such as important Founding-Era law books, overlooked by other writers, and he has been the first to uncover key facts about some of the most significant parts of the Constitution. Rob has written for some of the most prestigious academic publishers, including Cambridge University Press, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and Texas Law Review. (See list of publications below). In addition to his discoveries in U.S. Constitutional law, he has achieved other significant "firsts:"

• His webpage, The Scholarship of the Original Understanding of the Constitution (now partly duplicated here) was the first online guide to "originalist" research.
• For the University of Montana, he created the Documentary History of the Ratification of the Montana Constitution, the first organized collection (either on-line or in print) of materials explaining the 1972 Montana Constitution to the ratifiers just before they voted on it.
• In conjunction with his eldest daughter Rebecca, he edited and posted the first complete Internet versions of the Emperor Justinian's great Roman law collection (in Latin).

There are several keys to Rob's success as a scholar. Unlike most constitutional writers, he has academic training not merely in law or in history, but in both, as well as in the Latin classics that were the mainstay of Founding-Era education. He works hard to keep his historical investigations objective. Most critical, however, have been lessons and habits learned in the "real world:" Before his academic career began, Rob practiced law in two states, ran two separate businesses, and served as a regular real estate law columnist for the Rocky Mountain News. Later, he created and hosted Montana's first statewide commercial radio talk show and became Montana's best known political activist -- leading, among other campaigns -- the most successful petition referendum drive in the history of the state. He also helped push through several important pieces of Montana legislation, and in June 2000, was the runner-up among five candidates in the party primaries for Governor of Montana. For recreation, Rob spends time in the great outdoors, where he particularly enjoys hiking and skiing with his wife and three daughters.

Bibliography

CONSTITUTIONAL PUBLICATIONS

The Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause (with Lawson, Miller & Seidman) (Cambridge University Press 2010) (book). The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (Tenth Amendment Center, 2010) (book). Proposing Constitutional Amendments by Convention: Rules Governing the Process, ___ Tenn. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming, 2011) The State-Application-and-Convention Method of Amending the Constitution: The Founding-Era Vision, ___ Cooley L. Rev. (forthcoming 2011) The Original Scope of the Congressional Power to Regulate Elections, 13 U. Pa. J. Const. L. ___ (forthcoming 2010). Amending the Constitution by Convention: Practical Guidance for Citizens and Policymakers (forthcoming, Goldwater Institute, 2010) Learning from Experience: How the States Used Article V Applications in the Constitution's First Century (Goldwater Institute, 2010) Amending the Constitution by Convention: A Complete View of the Founders' Plan (Goldwater Institute, Independence Institute 2010) Commerce in the Commerce Clause: A Response to Jack Balkin, 109 Mich. L. Rev. First Impressions 55 (2010) (with David Kopel). The Original Meaning of the Constitution’s “Executive Vesting Clause” – Evidence from Eighteenth-Century Drafting Practice, 31 Whittier L. Rev. 1 (2009). The Original Meaning of the Privileges and Immunities Clause, 43 Ga. L. Rev. 1117 (2009). Paper Money and the Original Understanding of the Coinage Clause, 31 Harvard J.L. & Pub. Policy 1017 (2008). The Original Meaning of the Indian Commerce Clause, 85 Denv. U. L. Rev. 201 (2007). The Founders' Hermeneutic: The Real Original Understanding of Original Intent, 68 Ohio St. L.J. 1239 (2007). Judicial Review of Special Interest Spending: The General Welfare Clause and the Fiduciary Law of the Founders, 11 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 239 (2007). Tempering the Commerce Power, 68 Mont. L. Rev. 95 (2007). The Legal Meaning of "Commerce" In the Commerce Clause, 80 St. John's L. Rev. 789 (2006). The Original Meaning of the Establishment Clause, 14 Wm. & Mary Bill Rights J. 73 (2005). The Guarantee Clause, in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2005). Federal Land Retention and the Constitution's Property Clause: The Original Understanding, 76 U. Colo. L. Rev. 327 (2005). The Agency Law Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause, 55 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 243 (2004). The Constitution and the Public Trust, 52 Buff. L. Rev. 1077 (2004). The General Welfare Clause and the Public Trust: An Essay in Original Understanding, 52 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1 (2003). The Constitutional Contributions of John Dickinson, 108 Penn. State L. Rev. 415 (2003). The Enumerated Powers of States, 3 Nev. L. J. 469 (2003). Statutory Retroactivity: The Founders' View, 39 Idaho L. Rev. 489 (2003). A Reminder: The Constitutional Values of Sympathy and Independence, 91 Ky. L. J. 353 (2003). A Republic, Not a Democracy? Initiative, Referendum, and the Constitution's Guarantee Clause, 80 Tex. L. Rev. 807 (2002). "No Armed Bodies of Men"—Montanans' Forgotten Constitutional Right, 63 Mont. L. Rev. 1 (2002). Initiative and Referendum and the "Republican Form of Government," in The Battle over Citizen Lawmaking (Carolina Ac. Press 2000). Blocking the Cure for Columbine: Implications of State Constitutional "Cartelization" (Indep. Inst. 1999).

LEGAL HISTORY PUBLICATIONS (OTHER THAN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY)

"Magna Carta," entry for the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (Macmillan Reference [Gale-Cengage] 2008). Corpus Juris Civilis—an Internet Compilation of Classical Roman Law Sources, (2002-03). The Government as Fiduciary: Lessons from the Reign of the Emperor Trajan, 35 Richmond L. Rev. 191 (2001). Montana Estates in Land Statutes: History and Commentary (Univ. of Mont. 1991). Running with the Land in Montana, 51 Mont. L. Rev. 17 (1990). Comments on the Historiography of Condominium: The Myth of Roman Origin, 12 Okla. City L. Rev. 17 (1986) (digested and reprinted in 4 Common Ground (Sept., Nov. 1988)).

PUBLIC POLICY PUBLICATIONS

State Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth in the Rocky Mountain West (Indep. Inst. 1998). Tax and Spending Limits for Montana? Criteria for Assessing Current Proposals (Indep. Inst. 1994). Peyote, "Multiculturalism" and the Caricature of the West, 52 Mont. L. Rev. 453 (1991).

REMEDIES PUBLICATIONS

Montana Remedies Law (course book, 1988). Mending the Social Compact: Expectancy Damages for Common Property Defects, 66 Or. L. Rev. 109 (1987).

REAL PROPERTY PUBLICATIONS

Lateral and Subjacent Support, in Powell on Real Property (Matthew Bender 2001). Conveyances of Real Property Not By Deed, in Powell on Real Property (Matthew Bender 1999). Boundaries, in Powell on Real Property (Matthew Bender 1998). Condominiums, Reform, and the Unit Ownership Act, 58 Mont. L. Rev. 495 (1997). Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Aspen Law & Bus. Supp. 1997). Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1996). Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1995). Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1994). Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown Supp. 1993). Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown Supp. 1991). Montana Estates in Land Statutes: History and Commentary (Univ. of Mont. 1991). Consent, Coercion, and Reasonableness in Private Law: The Special Case of the Property Owners Association, 51 Ohio St. L.J. 41 (1990). Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown Supp. 1990). Running with the Land in Montana, 51 Mont. L. Rev. 17 (1990). Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown Supp. 1989). Mending the Social Compact: Expectancy Damages for Common Property Defects, 66 Or. L. Rev. 109 (1987). Keeping Faith: Fiduciary Obligations in Property Owners Associations, 11 Vt. L. Rev. 421 (1986). "Buyer Brokerage:" Does It Still Exist After Velten v. Robertson?, 55 U. Colo. L. Rev. 83 (1983). Modern Law of Deeds to Real Property (Little, Brown 1992) (606 pp.). Law of Property Owners Associations (Little, Brown 1989) (749 pp.). Real Property (course book, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001). How to Buy and Sell a Condominium (Simon & Schuster 1981) (popular trade paper back). Real Estate Law Columnist, Denver Rocky Mountain News (1982-84).

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Literally hundreds of other op-eds, CLE materials, and short articles since 1967 on various subjects, including law, policy, and real estate.