Alberto R. Gonzales
Dean Emeritus and Distinguished University Scholar
College of Law
B.A., Rice University; J.D., Harvard Law School
Location: Baskin Center 244
(615) 460-8259alberto.gonzales@belmont.edu
Biography
After attending the United States Air Force Academy, Alberto R. Gonzales received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate as the 80th Attorney General of the United States in February 2005 and served in that capacity until September 2007. He has worked as a partner at a major Houston law firm (Vinson & Elkins) and held government positions as a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Secretary of State, General Counsel to the Governor of Texas and Counsel to the President of the United States. Judge Gonzales has also served as a Visiting Professor and minority/veteran recruitment consultant at Texas Tech University.
Presently, Judge Gonzales is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, the Commission for Uniform Legislation, and the American Law Institute. He also serves on the board of directors for the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville. Previously, he served as an appointee to the Tennessee Governor's Commission for Judicial Appointments and the Governor's Management Fellows Executive Committee.
For his many accomplishments and years of public service, Judge Gonzales has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University and received the Harvard Law School Association Award, the Central Intelligence Agency’s Director’s Award and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. His work in the Hispanic community and his achievements as a role model have also earned him recognition as Hispanic American of the Year by HISPANIC Magazine and one of The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America by TIME Magazine.
Judge Gonzales became Dean of the law school in 2014 and retired in 2026.
Areas of expertise: National and international affairs, constitutional law, national security law, separation of powers
Alberto R. Gonzales, Bridges to Judicial History, 10 J. Tex. Sup. Ct. Hist. Soc'y 69 (2021).
Alberto R. Gonzales, True Friends Never Disappear, 48 Student Law. 7 (2020).
Alberto R. Gonzales, Presidential Powers, Immunities, and Pardons, 96 Wash. U. L. Rev. 4 (2018). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales & Donald Q. Cochran, Police Worn Body Cameras: An Antidote To The 'Ferguson Effect'?, 82 MISSOURI L. REV. 299 (2017). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales & Leigh Griffith, Challenges of Multi-State Series and Framework for Judicial Analysis, 42 IOWA J. CORP. L. 101 (2017). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales & Leigh Griffith, Series LLCs Part 2 – Current Status, Multi-State Issues and Potential Uniform Limited Liability Company Protected Series Act (April 2017), TAXES – THE TAX MAGAZINE, 27-44, 2017. | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales & Leigh Griffith, Series LLCs Part 1—Current Status, Multi-State Issues and Potential Uniform Limited Liability Company Protected Series Act (October 2016). TAXES - THE TAX MAGAZINE, 57-70, 2016. | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, True Faith and Allegiance, NELSON BOOKS (Fall 2016).
Alberto R. Gonzales & Patrick Glen, Advancing Executive Branch Immigration Policy Through the Attorney General’s Review Authority, 101 IOWA L. REV. 841 (2016). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, Advising the President: The Growing Scope of Executive Power to Protect America, 38 HARVARD J. LAW & PUB. POLICY 451 (2015). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales & David N. Strange, A Conservative and Compassionate Approach to Immigration Reform, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY PRESS (2014).
Alberto R. Gonzales & Donald B. Stuart, TwoYears Later and Counting: The Implications of the Supreme Court’s Taxing Power Decision on the Goals of the Affordable Care Act, 17 J. HEALTH CARE L. & POL’Y 219 (2014). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales & Amy Moore, No Right at All: Putting Consular Notification in its Rightful Place After Medellin, 66 U. FLA. L. REV. 1 (2014). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, In Search of Justice: An Examination of the Appointment of John G. Roberts and Samuel A. Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court and Their Impact on American Jurisprudence, 22 WM. & MARY BILL RTS. J. 647 (2014). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, The Growing Regulatory State of Banking, The Tennessee Banker; Oct. 2013: 27-29. | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, Drones: The Power to Kill, 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1 (2013). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales & Donald B. Stuart, What Implications Will the Supreme Court’s Taxing Power Decision Have on the Goals of the Affordable Care Act and HealthCare?, 6 J. HEALTH & LIFE SCI. L. Number 2, 189 (2013). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, An Immigration Crisis in a Nation of Immigrants: Why Amending the Fourteenth Amendment Won’t Solve Our Problems, 33 IMMIGR. & NAT’LITY L. REV. (2014) reprinted from 96 MINN. L. REV. 1859 (2012). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, An Immigration Crisis in a Nation of Immigrants: Why Amending the Fourteenth Amendment Won’t Solve Our Problems, book chapter in ARIZONA FIRESTORM: GLOBAL IMMIGRATION REALITIES, NATIONAL MEDIA & PROVINCIAL POLITICS (Otto Santa Ana & Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante eds., 2012). | SSRN
Alberto R. Gonzales, Waging War Within the Constitution, 42 TEX. TECH. L. REV. 843 (2010). | SSRN