Christopher Stein Elmendorf

Professor Christopher Elmendorf works on property and land-use law, election law, statutory interpretation, and administrative law, using both doctrinal and empirical methods. He is a leading authority on California’s planning-for-housing framework. Professor Elmendorf’s research has been published in numerous top law reviews and political science journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, New York University Law Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and Political Analysis.

As a graduate of Oberlin College and Yale Law School, Professor Elmendorf joined the University of California, Davis law faculty following a clerkship with Judge Guide Calabresi of the US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. He is a member of the American Law Institute.

Recent & Forthcoming Publications • Christopher S. Elmendorf & Timothy G. Duncheon, “When Super-Statutes Collide: CEQA, the Housing Accountability Act, and Tectonic Change in Land Use Law,” 49 Ecology L.Q. 655 (2023) • Eric Biber, Christopher S. Elmendorf, Nicholas J. Marantz, & Moira O’Neill, “Just Look at the Map: Bounding Environmental Review of Housing Development in California,” 54 ENVTL LAW (forthcoming 2024) • Christopher S. Elmendorf, “Lawyering Cities into Housing Shortages: The Curious Case of Discretionary Review Under the San Francisco City Charter,” 32 NYU ENVTL L. J. (forthcoming 2024) • Christopher S. Elmendorf, “Newsom Says California’s Anti-Housing Environmental Law Is ‘Broken.’ So Why Won’t He Fix It?,” L.A. TIMES, July 17, 2023 • Christopher S. Elmendorf, “The Green Movement’s Best Weapon Has Become a Problem,” MOTHER JONES, May to June 2023 • Christopher S. Elmendorf, “California Legislators Refuse to Fix CEQA. Here’s How Newsom and the Courts Can Take Charge,” S.F. CHRONICLE, Jan. 14, 2023