Professor, School of Public Affairs, American University |

Dreisbach’s research interests include constitutional law and the intersection of religion, politics, and law in American public life. He serves on the editorial board of Politics and Religion, a journal published by Cambridge University Press and is former managing editor of the Journal of Law and Politics.

He has authored or edited nine books including, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State (New York University Press, 2002), Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (co-editor) (Oxford University Press, 2017), and Faith and the Founders of the American Republic (co-editor). He has contributed essays to reference works such as The Cambridge History of Religions in America (2012) and Oxford Handbook on Church and State in the United States (2010). He has published more than 85 book chapters, reviews, and articles in scholarly journals, including American Journal of Legal History and Emory Law Journal.

Dreisbach served as a judicial clerk in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and practiced public interest law specializing in civil and religious liberties. At American University, he received the highest faculty award, Scholar/Teacher of the Year in 2008. He holds a doctorate from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia, and a bachelor of arts in government from University of South Carolina Upstate.