Noah Smith-Drelich is an assistant professor of law at Chicago Kent. His scholarship seeks to better understand the incentive structures underlying the procedural and substantive rules of tort law, with ramifications that stretch from mass torts to policing. Smith-Drelich also writes on the constitutional right to travel, and in the area of public health.
His articles have been published or are forthcoming in the Northwestern University Law Review, Southern California Law Review (twice), Minnesota Law Review, Georgia Law Review, Indiana Law Journal (twice), Ohio State Law Journal, Florida Tax Review, Public Health Nutrition, and Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, as well as the California Law Review Online and Texas Law Review Online. He is also an author of the casebook Constitutional Torts (6th ed.) with professors Sheldon Nahmod, Michael Wells, and Fred Smith Jr.
In addition to his academic work, Smith-Drelich maintains an active pro bono practice in civil liberties impact litigation with a focus on indigenous rights and environmental justice, for which he was recognized in the inaugural AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll. Currently, Smith-Drelich is the originating attorney and lead counsel on Thunderhawk v. County of Morton, a putative class action lawsuit challenging police abuses related to the Standing Rock-led resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. The case is in discovery in the District of North Dakota. Smith-Drelich also serves as the appointed Rules Reporter for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Smith-Drelich currently teaches Torts, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Litigation, and a Section 1983 Practicum. He has been recognized for his teaching, winning Chicago-Kent Student Bar Association Professor of the Year (2022) and the Chicago-Kent College of Law Excellence in Teaching Award (2022).
Before arriving at Chicago-Kent, Smith-Drelich was an academic fellow at Columbia Law School. Prior to that, Smith-Drelich worked as a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming affiliate, and as a 7th-12th grade teacher on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Smith-Drelich was a law clerk to Judge Edmond E. Chang of the Northern District of Illinois and Judge Jay S. Bybee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He also worked as an attorney at the litigation boutique Korein Tillery from 2014–2017.
He is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where he was an articles editor on the Stanford Law Review and the editor-in-chief of the Stanford Law & Policy Review. Smith-Drelich holds an M.S. in environment and natural resources (health and the human environment) from Stanford University and a B.A. from Williams College.
Education
J.D., Stanford Law School
B.A., Williams College
Publications
False Positive Law, 111 Minn. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2026)
Is Bivens Dead?, 61 Ga. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2026)
The Forgotten Fundamental Right to Free Movement, 119 Nw. U. L. Rev. 811 (2025)
The Anti-Discriminatory Right to Travel, 100 Ind. L. J. 1063 (forthcoming 2025)
Food Tax Substitution Effects, 26 Fl. Tax Rev. 1 (2024) (faculty edited)
Race and the New School Milk Requirements, 14 Cal. L. Rev. O. 48 (2023)
Funding the Police, 84 Ohio State L. J. 717 (2023)
Travel Rights in a Culture War, 101 Texas L. Rev. O. 21 (2022)
The Constitutional Right to Travel Under Quarantine, 94 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1367 (2022)
The Constitutional Tort System, 96 Ind. L. J. 571 (2021)
Performative Causation, 93 S. Cal. L. Rev. 379 (2020)
Buying Health: Assessing the Impact of a Consumer-Side Vegetable Subsidy on Purchasing, Consumption and Waste, 19 Pub. Health Nutrition 520 (2016) (peer reviewed)
Curing the Mass Tort Settlement Malaise, 48 Loyola L.A. L. Rev. 1 (2014)
Selected Media Appearances
Block Club Chicago, Molly DeVore, ICE Killed A Man Outside Chicago Last Year. Little Has Been Done To Investigate, March 23, 2026
Important Not Important, Syris Valentine, Inhibiting migration and movement infringes on the rights of life and jeopardizes survival, February 13, 2026
Chicago Tribune, Madeline Buckley, Immigration agent charged with misdemeanor battery, according to complaining witness, January 23, 2026
Block Club Chicago, Mina Bloom, ICE Agents In Chicago Area Who Aren’t Undercover Must Wear Badges Or IDs, Federal Judge Rules, October 10, 2025
Chicago Tribune, Madeline Buckley, Minnesota shooting raises questions about who investigates federal agents, January 11, 2026
Law360, Theresa Schliep, Idaho Abortion Ban Tees Up Battle On 'Trafficking' Restrictions, April 8, 2024
WBEZ, Andy Grimm and Natalie Moore, Smooth and straight — and now sick? Thousands of Black women are suing the makers of hair relaxers in federal court in Chicago., April 4, 2024
The Texas Tribune, Eleanor Klibanoff and William Melhado, Texas conservatives test how far they can extend abortion and gender-transition restrictions beyond state lines, February 19, 2024
WTTW, Aida Mogos, Latino Voices Conversation: Future of Abortion Rights in Illinois and Across the Country, July 2, 2022
