Edward J. Erler

EDWARD J. ERLER is Professor of Political Science emeritus from California State University, San Bernardino, where he taught Political Philosophy and Constitutional Law, and served as Department Chairman from 1984-1991. He is the Author The American Polity: Essays on the Theory and Practice of Constitutional Government and co-author of The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration; Property and the Pursuit of Happiness; The United States In Crisis, Revised and Expanded Edition; Prophetic Statesmanship: Harry Jaffa, Abraham Lincoln, and the Gettysburg Address and numerous articles in law reviews and professional journals, among the most recent, are “From Subjects to Citizens: the Social Contract Origins of American Citizenship”; “Marbury v. Madison and the Progressive Transformation of Judicial Power”; Aristotle, Locke, and the American Founding”; “The Decline and Fall of the Right to Property: Government as Universal Landlord;” and several articles in the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Dr. Erler was a member of the California Advisory Commission on Civil Rights from 1988-2006 and served on the California Constitutional Revision Commission in 1996. He has testified on two occasions before the House Judiciary Committee on the issue of birthright citizenship and on voting rights and other civil rights issues before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 2005 he traveled to Iraq to meet with members of the Constitution Draft Commission. In 2007 and 2008 he won the California State Cycling Road Race championship in his age group and in 2007, 2008, 2018 the Individual Time Trial championship. He received a B.A. in Political Science from San Jose State University, on a grant from the G.I. Bill for services rendered, a M.A. and Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate School. He has been a fellow at the National Humanities Center and served as Director of the Bicentennial for the National Endowment for the Humanities.