Suja A. Thomas

Professor
Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Faculty Scholar

Phone: 217-244-7614 Email: sathomas@illinois.edu B.A. Northwestern J.D. New York University Courses Evidence Employment Discrimination Sport and the Law Vita

Professor Suja A. Thomas's research interests include the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial and theories of constitutional interpretation. Her article "Why Summary Judgment is Unconstitutional," published by the Virginia Law Review, is currently the basis of arguments in the federal courts, and was featured in a piece in the New York Times where her argument was referred to as "perfectly plausible."  A panel of the Sixth Circuit recently referred to her historical analysis in that article as "interesting," and her article was the impetus for a symposium of the Iowa Law Review.  Professor Thomas's other work has also been influential.  Her article on remittitur was the basis of a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court, and a federal judge has commented that "her caution [regarding the effective elimination of the jury trial right through remittitur] merits evaluation by the federal courts." Professor Thomas, the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Faculty Scholar, is also interested in Civil Procedure, Employment Discrimination, Evidence, Legal History, and Sports and the Law. Professor Thomas earned her bachelor of arts degree from Northwestern University in mathematics. She received her law degree from New York University School of Law, where she served as an Articles Editor on the NYU Law Review and where she received several awards including the Leonard M. Henkin Prize for her note on equal rights under the 14th Amendment, the Mendes Hershman Prize for excellence in writing in the field of property law and the William Miller Memorial Award for outstanding scholarship in the field of municipal law.  After a federal clerkship in Chicago, Professor Thomas practiced law in New York City with Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C. and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP. In the spring of 2008, Professor Thomas was a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. Current Papers and Titles on SSRN The New Summary Judgment Motion: The Motion to Dismiss Under Iqbal and Twombly, Lewis and Clark Law Review, Forthcoming, Illinois Public Law Research Paper No. 09-16 Frivolous Cases, DePaul Law Review, Forthcoming, Illinois Public Law Research Paper No. 08-36 The Fallacy of Dispositive Procedure, 50 B.C. L. Rev. 759 (2009)  Why the Motion to Dismiss Is Now Unconstitutional, 92 Minn. L. Rev. 1851 (2008) Why Summary Judgment Is Unconstitutional, 93 Va. L. Rev. 139 (2007) Why Summary Judgment Is Still Unconstitutional: A Reply to Professors Brunet and Nelson, 93 Iowa L. Rev. 1667 (2008) The Unconstitutionality of Summary Judgment: A Status Report, 93 Iowa L. Rev. 1613 (2008) Judicial Modesty and the Jury, 76 U. Colo. L. Rev. 767 (2005) The Seventh Amendment, Modern Procedure and the English Common Law, 82 Wash. U. L.Q. 687 (2004) Re-examining the Constitutionality of Remittitur Under the Seventh Amendment, 64 Ohio St. L.J. 731 (2003) The Civil Jury: The Disregarded Constitutional Actor, U. of Cincinnati Public Law Research Paper No. 07-30