Art "Arthur" Svenson Ph.D.
Professor, David Boies Endowed Chair of Government
Political Science, Faculty Experts
About
Recent scholarship focuses on statutory and constitutional questions generated by end-of-life policies of American national and state governments. Does the Fourteenth Amendment nationalize a right to physician-assisted suicide? How does the exercise of Congress' Commerce Clause power affect state legalization of physician-assisted suicide and medicinal marijuana? What impact might shifting notions of assisted dying for terminally ill, competent adults have on the Supreme Court's Equal Protection jurisprudence?
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
- M.A., University of California, Santa Barbara
- B.A., California State University, Fresno
Professional Background
Academic Experience
- Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, 2016
- Renmin University, Beijing, China, 2011
- Florida International University, 1979–1981
Professional Experience
- Professional violinist, Redlands Symphony
- Professional violinist, San Bernardino Symphony
- Professional violinist, Riverside County Philharmonic
Areas of Expertise
- Federalism
- Medicinal marijuana
- Physician-assisted suicide
- Politics and the arts
Publications
- “Can You? Will You?” for spoken word and string trio. Spoken word written and performed by Arthur Svenson; music composed by Anthony Suter. Performed and recorded Oct. 3, 2020. Available on Anthony Suter’s YouTube channel.
- “President Trump’s Impossible Brief,” Daily Journal, April 23, 2020.
- “Youngstown and the President’s Emergency Powers,” Daily Journal, Jan. 23, 2019.
- “Physician-Assisted Dying and the Law in the United States: A Perspective on Three Prospective Futures,” in Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Global Perspectives on Choosing Death, edited by Michael Cholbi, Praeger Press, 2017.
- “Adventures in Normalizing New: Death with Dignity in Montana and Vermont,” in And Death Shall Have Dominion, edited by Katarzyna Małecka and Rossanna Gibbs, Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2015.
- “‘How We Die’ in New Mexico: A Judicial Prescription Without Relief,” Beijing Law Review 6 (2015): 117–124.
Awards and Service
- American Political Science Association Distinguished Teaching Award, 2019
- Fulbright Scholar Award, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, 2016
- Town and Gown Award of Distinction, 2014
- Fulbright Scholar Award, Renmin University, Beijing, China, 2011
- Armacost Award for Faculty Service to Alumni, 2008
- Centennial Award, 2007
- David Boies Endowed Chair, 2004
- Research Award, 2003
- Mortar Board Professor of the Year, 1992, 2013
- Outstanding Teaching Award, 1983, 1986, 1997