Raff Donelson is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research grapples with foundational issues in law, philosophy, and the intersection of the two fields. In philosophy, his work focuses on metaethics and legal philosophy. His legal scholarship centers on constitutional protections for incarcerated persons and the accused. He teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, constitutional law, and legal theory. Donelson was recently named a 2026–27 Illinois Humanities Road Scholar Speaker.
Before joining Chicago-Kent in 2022, Donelson was on the faculty at Penn State Dickinson Law and held a joint appointment in the law school and philosophy department at Louisiana State University. He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Miami and Insper in São Paulo, Brazil.
Ph.D. Northwestern University
J.D. Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
M.A. University of Chicago
B.A. Williams College
Fuller and the Folk: The Inner Morality of Law Revisited (with Ivar Hannikainen), in Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, vol. 3 6-28 (Tania Lombrozo, Joshua Knobe & Shaun Nichols, eds. Oxford University Press 2020).
Natural Punishment, 100 North Carolina Law Review 557 (2022).
The Inherent Problem with Mass Incarceration, Oklahoma Law Review (2022).
The Pragmatist School in Analytic Jurisprudence, 31 Philosophical Issues 66 (2021).
Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law (with Ivar Hannikainen et. al), 45 Cognitive Science (2021).
Describing Law, 33 Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 85 (2020).
Blacks, Cops, and the State of Nature, 15 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 183 (2017).
Ethical Pragmatism, 48 Metaphilosophy 383 (2017).
“Most presidents have not conceded that it’s constitutional, and there are a number of scholars, including myself, who think that there are some constitutional problems with the War Powers Resolution,” says Raff Donelson, professor of law and philosophy at Chicago-Kent College of Law. "Most presidents, despite those qualms, have attempted to follow the framework that it sets up.”
WTTW
“Seized properties should be put up for public auction, or there should be some other suitably public way that everyone has a fair chance of getting at the property,” said Raff Donelson, professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law. “If that doesn’t happen, that really ought to be a crime.”
Investigative Project on Race & Equity
“Decertification has to be easier if it’s to work as an independent way to get police reform,” said Raff Donelson, an associate professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, drawing a contrast to criminal prosecutions as an accountability mechanism. We have one set of rules for figuring out whether to take away your freedom,” he said, and “a different set of rules about whether you should do a job.”
The Intercept