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Patrick M. Garry
Associate Professor of Law - University of South Dakota School of Law
Director, Center for Empirical Legal Research

Patrick Garry has a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Constitutional History from the University of Minnesota.  Before joining the faculty at The University of South Dakota School of Law, Professor Garry was a partner and shareholder with the third largest law firm in Minneapolis. He was also a research scholar at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center and a visiting scholar at Columbia University Law School, and he served as a legal advisor to the Silha Center for Media Law and Ethics at the University of Minnesota.

Patrick Garry is a contributor to The Oxford Companion to the United States Supreme Court, The Encyclopedia of the U.S. Supreme Court, The Oxford Companion to U.S. History, and The Encyclopedia of the First Amendment, and has published nine books.  His first book was included in the Distinguished Studies in American Legal and Constitutional History.  His subsequent books have been reviewed in such publications as the Harvard Law Review, The Times Literary Supplement, National Journal, Political Science Quarterly, Booklist and The New Yorker.  Professor Garry’s study of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes appears in Great Justices of the US Supreme Court.  His scholarly articles have been published in the Wake Forest Law Review, Florida Law Review, Alabama Law Review, BYU Law Review, Utah Law Review, University of Pittsburgh Law Review, SMU Law Review, Temple Law Review, Missouri Law Review, University of Miami Law Review, Kentucky Law Journal, Arizona State Law Journal, and Pepperdine Law Review, some of which have been reprinted in the First Amendment Law Handbook and by the Washington Legal Foundation.  Professor Garry has also written for such popular audience periodicals as the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, Omaha World-Herald, Commonweal, Chicago Tribune, Cincinnati Post, Washington Times, Indianapolis News, Journal of Law and Politics, and Chicago Tribune Magazine. He has been interviewed by CBS News, MSNBC, San Diego Union Tribune, and numerous radio and television stations. 

Professor Garry has served as legal advisor to the Minnesota News Council and has been invited to guest teach at the University of Utah Law School, University of Missouri School of Law, and George Washington University Law School. He has also been invited on numerous occasions to testify before Congress on legal and constitutional law issues.  Over the past couple of years, Professor Garry has been a guest lecturer at more than 40 law schools and universities. While at the University of South Dakota, he has held joint appointments with the University of South Dakota School of Law and the College of Arts and Sciences.

In recognition of his scholarly research agenda, Garry was awarded a Research Catalyst Grant by the University of South Dakota, as well as a Research Excellence Grant.  He has received two different research grants from the Chiesman Foundation, which funds projects dedicated to "support studies of issues concerning the Constitution of the United States in particular and the legal systems in the United States in general."  He has also been awarded a Center for Teaching and Learning grant.  And he was recently awarded the President's Award for Research Excellence, the University's highest award for scholarly research accomplishments.

After serving with the U.S State Department at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad as Director of the Office of Legislative Statecraft for one year, Manuel Miranda serves again as chairman of the Third Branch Conference, a coalition of over 100 grass-top leaders nationwide engaged on judicial matters.  Mr. Miranda is also the founder and president of The Iraq Society, an association of men and women who served in Iraq or who support the mission of peace, prosperity, and liberty for the people between the two rivers. 

Mr. Miranda served previously as Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, leading 51 Republican staffs on judicial confirmations, and as.Senior Nominations Counsel to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.  Mr. Miranda is credited by MoveOn.org as the architect of the Republican “nuclear option,” and the Washington Post and others credit him as the first to lead opposition to President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers.  

In February 2006, Mr. Miranda was awarded the Ronald Reagan Award by the American Conservative Union for his leadership on judicial nominations.  The Ronald Reagan Award is considered the highest award of the conservative movement.   He has been a Visiting Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Senior Counsel at the Family Research Council, and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, publishing 35 articles on judicial nominations. 

Manny was born in Cuba and raised in Spain and New York City.  He received degrees from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.  At Georgetown, he was the Circumnavigators’ Foundation Fellow for 1981 and at Hastings he was the Charles Rummel Scholar.