Bio
Michael J. DeBoer joined the law school faculty in 2011 as an associate professor of law.
Education
- LL.M. summa cum laude, Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis (2011)
- J.D. magna cum laude, Valparaiso University School of Law (1998)
- M.Div., Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1995)
- M.A.R. summa cum laude, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (1993)
- B.A. summa cum laude, Liberty University (1992)
- Additional Study/Training: University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado (graduate courses in history); The Witherspoon Institute, Princeton, New Jersey (church and state seminar: Religion and Liberty in the American Founding Era)
Courses Taught and Research Interests
Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Procedure, Employment Law, Health Care Law and Bioethics, Jurisprudence, Law and Religion, Professional Malpractice, Public Health Law, State Constitutional Law
Professional Experience
- Associate Attorney, Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP (health law, labor and employment, litigation, and religious institutions practice groups)
- Judicial Law Clerk to Judge Theresa L. Springmann, United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
- Judicial Law Clerk to Justice Brent E. Dickson, Indiana Supreme Court
- Assistant Professor of Law, Liberty University School of Law
- Adjunct Professor of Law, Valparaiso University
Additional Experience
- Participant, Comparative Effectiveness Study Group, Sponsored by the Indiana University Consortium for Health Policy, Law and Bioethics
- Editor-in-Chief, Valparaiso University Law Review
- Federal Judicial Extern to Judge Andrew P. Rodovich, United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
Court Admissions
- Indiana State Courts (1998) (active)
- Colorado State Courts (2003) (inactive)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
- United States District Court for the District of Colorado
Current or Past Professional Memberships
- American Bar Association
- American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics
- Calumet American Inn of Court
- Christian Legal Society
- Colorado Bar Association
- Evangelical Theological Society
- Federalist Society
- Hugh Maddox American Inn of Court
- Indiana State Bar Association
- Seventh Circuit Bar Association
- Society of Christian Ethics
Select Awards
- Corpus Juris Secundum Award (VUSOL Class of 1998)
- Charles R. Gromley Scholar (VUSOL Class of 1998)
- The Paulino de los Reyes and Joseph Block Prize in New Testament Greek (SEBTS 1995)
- The J. Lake Williams Award in Christian Ethics (SEBTS 1994)
Law Review/Journal Articles
- Justice Brent E. Dickson, State Constitutional Interpretation, and the Religion Provisions of the Indiana Constitution, 50 Indiana Law Review (forthcoming fall 2016).
- Legislating Morality Progressively–The Contraceptive Coverage Mandate, Religious Freedom, and Public Health Policy and Ethics, 28 Journal of Law and Health 62 (2015).
- The Right to Remedy by Due Course of Law–A Historical Exploration and an Appeal for Reconsideration, 6 Faulkner Law Review 135 (2015).
- Religious Hospitals and the Federal Community Benefit Standard–Counting Religious Purpose as a Tax-Exemption Factor for Hospitals, 42 Seton Hall Law Review 1549 (2012).
- Access Without Limits? Revisiting Barriers and Boundaries in the Post-Affordable Care Act World, 44 Connecticut Law Review 1239 (2012).
- Medicare Coverage Policy and Decision Making, Preventive Services, and Comparative Effectiveness Research Before and After the Affordable Care Act, 7 Journal of Health and Biomedical Law 493 (2012).
- Beginning-of-Life and End-of-Life Issues in Indiana Law: Will the Indiana General Assembly’s Established Policies Protecting and Preserving Human Life Receive Judicial Deference?, 12 Michigan State University Journal of Medicine and Law 213 (2008).
- Equality as a Fundamental Value in the Indiana Constitution, 38 Valparaiso University Law Review 489 (2004).
- Church Communications Involving Clergy Sex Abuse, 5 Government, Law & Policy Journal 35 (2003) (with Professor Seymour H. Moskowitz).
- When Silence Resounds: Clergy and Reporting Requirements Regarding Elder Abuse and Neglect, 49 DePaul Law Review 1 (1999) (with Professor Seymour H. Moskowitz).
Other Publications
- Foreword, Overlapping Jurisdictions, Religion, Conscience, and Fundamental Questions, 4 Faulkner Law Review 299 (2013).
- Essay, Brent E. Dickson, January 6, 1986 – Present, in Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court (2010).
- Essay, John Calvin, the Civil Magistrate, Law, and the Natural Law: Exploring Calvin’s Understanding, 2 Liberty University Law Review 649 (2008).
- Response Essay, Seek a Right View of the Bible–A Biblical and Theological Response to Herbert W. Titus and Some Lessons for Christian Law Students, 2 Liberty University Law Review 339 (2008).
- Book Review, 16 Journal of Law and Religion 269 (2001) (reviewing Kenneth L. Karst, Law’s Promise, Law’s Expression: Visions of Power in the Politics of Race, Gender, and Religion (1993)).
- Book Review, 16 Journal of Law and Religion 783 (2001) (reviewing Os Guinness, The American Hour: A Time of Reckoning and the Once and Future Role of Faith (1993)).
- Book Review, 16 Journal of Law and Religion 805 (2001) (reviewing Daniel J. Elazar, Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel: Biblical Foundations and Jewish Expressions (1995); Covenant and Commonwealth: From Christian Separation Through the Protestant Reformation (1996); Covenant and Constitutionalism: The Great Frontier and the Matrix of Federal Democracy (1998); and Covenant and Civil Society: The Constitutional Matrix of Modern Democracy (1998)).
- Book Review, 16 Journal of Law and Religion 855 (2001) (reviewing Political Order and the Plural Structure of Society (James W. Skillen & Rockne M. McCarthy eds., 1991)).
- Book Review, 16 Journal of Law and Religion 913 (2001) (reviewing Herbert W. Richardson, What Do Religion, Politics and Science Contribute to the Good Society? Essays in Calvinist Social Theory (1991)).
Essays and Opinion Pieces
- Compelling Reasons to Retain Tax Exemptions for Religious Institutions—Part 2, Canon & Culture (August 2, 2016).
- Compelling Reasons to Retain Tax Exemptions for Religious Institutions—Part 1, Canon & Culture (June 7, 2016).
- Are Anti-Abortion Arguments Predicated on a “Fetal Personhood Fallacy”?, Canon & Culture (October 1, 2015).
- Justice Scalia and Clergy Solemnization of Same-Sex Marriages, Canon & Culture (June 24, 2015).
- Is the “Right to Abortion” Analogous to Gun Rights?, Canon & Culture (May 4, 2015).
- Why Indiana’s New Religious Freedom Restoration Act Makes Good Sense, Canon & Culture (March 30, 2015).
- Engaging Christmas in the Light of Easter, Canon & Culture (November 24, 2014).
- “He Said What?”—Obscenities, Harsh Words, Moral Analysis, and Character Formation, Canon & Culture (October 19, 2014).
- The Contraceptive Coverage Mandate as Legislated Morality, Canon & Culture (June 25, 2014).
- Alabama’s Law Setting Standards of Medical Care for Abortion Providers Challenged, Jurist—Forum (May 9, 2014).
Audio Commentary