Joshua Macey, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School, is a recipient of the 2022 Arizona State University Morrison Prize. The prize is awarded to the most impactful sustainability-related legal academic article published in North America. Macey is the first professor to win the prize twice. He shares the prize this year with his co-author Matthew R. Christiansen, general counsel at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Their winning article, “Long Live the Federal Power Act’s Bright Line,” interprets three recent U.S. Supreme Court cases. In doing so, it creates a framework for determining when state or federal energy policies violate the Federal Power Act’s allocation of jurisdiction, an increasingly important and complicated question today as renewable energy, energy storage technologies and emerging competitive forces are transforming electricity markets across the country.
“I’m extremely grateful to receive ASU’s Morrison Prize and to be able to see the environmental law community in Phoenix,” Macey said. “ASU Law’s program on law and sustainability brings together an extraordinary and diverse group of environmental and energy law scholars. I’ve learned so much at this conference in the past, and it will be an enormous honor to talk about energy jurisdiction in May.”
“Competition to win the Morrison Prize continues to get stronger year after year,” said Troy Rule, professor of law and faculty director of ASU Law’s Law and Sustainability program. “This year, the field of contest entries was stronger than ever, and the winning article was truly outstanding.”
The Morrison Prize is administered through the Program on Law and Sustainability and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Each year, law professors from throughout the world who have recently published articles in North American legal academic journals are eligible to enter the Morrison Prize Contest. All entries undergo independent review and scoring by a group of professors, not affiliated with ASU, who teach in environmental sustainability-related areas at various North American law schools. The scores from these judges are aggregated to determine the prize winner.
Adapted from ASU News.