Jorge González-Jácome

S.J.D. Candidate

Graduate Fellow, Writing Workshop Teaching Assistant

jgonzalez at sjd.law.harvard.edu

Dissertation

Justifying the Exception: A Constitutional History of Latin American Theories of Emergency Powers

Since the nineteenth century, Latin American constitutions have included provisions allowing presidents or legislatures to suspend the rule of law in times of crisis. In different periods of time, these emergency powers have become ordinary tools of government not only for military dictatorships but also for democratic regimes around the region. My dissertation work tries to unearth the legal and constitutional theories that Latin American jurists used in order to justify states of exception over long periods of time. These theories were generated in the ‘more prestigious’ countries of the region and then traveled to the ‘less prestigious’ ones.

Fields of Research and Supervisors

Comparative Law with Professor Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Law School, Overall Faculty Supervisor
Jurisprudence with Professor Lewis Sargentich, Harvard Law School
Constitutional Theory with Professor Noah Feldman, Harvard Law School
Latin American History with Professor James Robinson, Department of Government-Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.

Additional Research Interests

Human Rights
Legal Education
Law and Humanities
Popular Constitutionalism

Education

Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate 2009-Present
Harvard Law School, LLM Program 2008-2009
Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, Magister en Derecho 2006
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia, Abogado 2002

Appointments and Fellowships

Harvard Law School, 2009-2010, Graduate Program Fellow, LL.M. Advisor
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana - Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas, 2006-present, Assistant Professor (on leave)

Representative Publications

EL PENSAMIENTO JURÍDICO COLOMBIANO ENTRE 1886 Y 1920 (forthcoming 2010)
ENTRE LA LEY Y LA CONSTITUCIÓN: UNA INTRODUCCIÓN HISTÓRICA A LA FUNCIÓN INSTITUCIONAL DE LA CORTE SUPREMA DE JUSTICIA, 1886-1915 (2007)
Constituciones para Controlar: el caso de Cundinamarca y Cartagena en el Periodo de la Independencia, 9.2 REVISTA ESTUDIOS SOCIO-JURÍDICOS 56 (2007)
El Problema de las Fuentes del Derecho: Una Perspectiva desde la Argumentación Jurídica, 112 VNIVERSITAS 265 (2006)

Additional Information

Languages: English and Spanish

Page last updated: October 20, 2010