Anthony Edsel Conrad Tupaz

Hometown: Manila, Philippines
HLS Class: LL.M. class of 2008

Prior Education: A.B. (hons) 1999, J.D. 2003, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Prior Experience: law clerk, lecturer, law associate, speechwriter

Career goals: Teaching; research and writing

During the 2007 Fall semester, I took a course called “Borders of the Constitution” taught by Prof. Gerald Neuman. This perhaps was the most terrifying and most difficult course I have ever taken, having little background in American constitutional law and legal theory. But midway it came to me that I was one of the very privileged few who had undergone such a rich, reflective, and comparative perspective, and in a small classroom setting at that! The idea of the extraterritorial reach and applicability of the Constitution appealed to me. The thematic question was, did the Bill of Rights apply? If so, to whom, where, and why? We "traveled" from the Missouri Compromise, to Cuba, to Puerto Rico, to the Northern Marianas, and back again to what is now Guantanamo Bay. The class made me dwell deeply and in detail on the views of the various authorities who have influenced how we, even today, think about public law. Everyone in that small class was brilliant, amazing, and they spoke without hesitation. Prof. Neuman allowed for ample flexibility for us to pursue the topics that most interested us.

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