John H. Blume

Professor Blume is the Samuel F. Leibowitz Professor of Trial Techniques and the Co-Director (along with Professor Sheri Johnson) of the Cornell Death Penalty Project. He teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and supervises the Capital Punishment and Juvenile Justice Clinics.

Professor Blume is a 1978 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a 1982 graduate of Yale Divinity School, and a 1984 graduate of Yale Law School. After graduating from Law School, he clerked for the Hon. Thomas A. Clark on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Following several years in private practice emphasizing civil rights litigation and criminal defense, Professor Blume became the initial Executive Director of Justice 360, a non-profit dedicated to the representation of persons on death row, a position which he held until joining the Cornell Law School faculty.

Professor Blume is a co-author (with Sheri Johnson, Nina Rivkind and Steve Shatz) of CASES AND MATERIALS ON THE DEATH PENALTY, a co-author (with Rick Lempert, Sam Gross, James Liebman, Keir Weyble, Steve Landsman and Fred Lederer) of A MODERN APPROACH TO EVIDENCE, a co-author (with Marc Tasse) of INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY AND THE DEATH PENALTY: CURRENT ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES) and the co-editor (with Jordan Steiker) of DEATH PENALTY STORIES. He has also published numerous book chapters and law review articles in the fields of capital punishment, habeas corpus, criminal procedure and evidence.

Professor Blume has argued eight cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, and has been co-counsel or amicus curiae counsel in numerous other Supreme Court cases. Additionally, he has argued cases in the United States Court of Appeals for Second, Fourth, Fifth Seventh, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, and he has litigated more than 100 capital cases at trial, on direct appeal and in state and federal post-conviction proceedings.