Shaakirrah R. Sanders became the first African-American and second person of color to achieve the rank of full professor at the University of Idaho College of Law in 2018. Professor Sanders teaches courses related to U.S. constitutional law and criminal procedure. She previously co-coached the National Moot Court Competition teams in Boise and Moscow. She also served as faculty advisor for the Idaho Critical Legal Studies Journal from 2014-18.

Professor Sanders has published scholarship on felony sentencing reform; civil and criminal jury trial rights; religious freedom; and agriculture security or “ag-gag” legislation. Her work has or will appear in Irvine Law Review, Hastings Law Journal, William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, and University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform among other publications. She also contributed commentary for edited collections, including Idaho Media Law Handbook; Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court; and The Contested Place of Religion in Family Law.

 Professor Sanders enjoys presenting at legal scholarship conferences in her areas of law teaching. She occasionally testifies before the Idaho Legislature and regularly gives CLE, university, and public service presentations. She sometimes blogs on Casetext and has appeared in Idaho related news stories in The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, and Al Jazeera America. She has also provided legal commentary for Excited Utterance: The Evidence Law and Proof Podcast, as well many of local and regional radio and television news broadcasts and publications.

Prior to joining the College of Law, Professor Sanders served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Honorable Lavenski R. Smith, current Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She practiced in Seattle, Washington at K&L Gates and the Public Defender Association. She also practiced in New Orleans, Louisiana at Locke Lord.

 Professor Sanders attended Loyola University New Orleans College of Law where she served as Index/Casenote Editor on the Loyola Law Review and was a William Crowe Scholar upon graduation. In 2004, Professor Sanders was a Pegasus Scholar, a legal exchange program sponsored by the American Inns of Court and the Honorable Society of the Inner Temple in London, England. She received a B.S. in Psychology from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and recently served a five-year term as president of her class’s 20^th Reunion Committee.

 Professor Sanders has bar admission in Louisiana, New York, and Washington, as well as various federal district and circuit courts. She has served as a board officer for the ACLU of Idaho and the Richard C. Fields American Inns of Court. She currently chairs the AALS Section on Constitutional Law and the Idaho State Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights.

• Confrontation rights at felony sentencing
• Criminal and civil jury trial rights
• Equal protection: race, gender, and sexuality
• Substantive due process: marriage, family autonomy, and reproductive freedom
• First Amendment: speech, press, association and religious freedom
• Voting rights

Criminal Procedure

• The Value of Confrontation as a Felony Sentencing Right, 25 Widener L.J. 103 (2016) (featured on Kansas Federal Public Defender Blog, CrimProf Blog, Sentencing Law and Policy Blog, and Excited Utterance Podcast)
• Unbranding Confrontation as Only a Trial Right, 65 Hastings L.J. 1257 (2014) (featured on CrimProf Blog and cited in State v. Zamzow, 892 N.W. 637 (Wis. 2017))
• Making the Right Call for Confrontation at Felony Sentencing, 47 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 791 (2014)

First Amendment

• Religious Healing Exemptions and the Jurisprudential Gap between Substantive Due Process and the Free Exercise Clause, 8 Irvine L. Rev. ___ (2018).
• By Faith Alone: When Religious Beliefs and Child Welfare Collide, in The Contested Place of Religion in Family Law 308 (Cambridge University Press forthcoming 2018) (co-authored with Robin Fretwell Wilson)
• Mass Communication Law In Idaho 51-96, 153-96 (Rebecca Tallent et aleds., New Forums State Law Series 2017)
• Ag-Gag Free Detroit, 93 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 669 (2016) (centennial symposium on the past, present, and future of the City of Detroit)

Jury Trial Rights

• Simpkins v. Grace Brethren Church, Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Torts Opinions (Cambridge University Press forthcoming)
• Deconstructing Juryless Fact-Finding in Civil Cases, 25 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 235 (2016) (featured on Juries Blog)
• Uncapping Compensation in the Gore Due Process Analysis, 24 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 37 (2015)
• Note, Putting an End to the Speculative Jury: Louisiana v. Haddad, 45 Loy. L. Rev. 783 (1999)

Miscellaneous

• Commentary on United States v. Morrison, Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court 447 (Cambridge University Press 2016)
• Michigan’s Duty to Provide Access to Health Care, 6 J.L. Soc’y 1 (2005)
• The Cyclical Nature of Divorce in the Western Legal Tradition, 50 Loy. L. Rev. 407 (2004)
• Twenty-Five Years of a Divided Court and Nation: Conflicting Views of Affirmative Action and Reverse Discrimination, 26 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 61 (2003)

• Loyola Law Review Faculty Advisor of the Year (2014)
• Loren Miller Bar Association Young Lawyer of the Year Award (2008)
• American Inn of Court/Honorable Society of the Inner Temple Pegasus Scholar (2004)
• Loyola University School of Law William Crowe Scholar (2001)
• Loyola Law Review Editorial Board Award for Outstanding Dedication and Service (1999-2000)