Robert A. Destro, Esq., Member of Advisory Board

Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, Bob Destro earned his law degree in 1975 from the University of California at Berkeley. He received his undergraduate degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1972. He is a member of the Ohio Bar.

Bob is currently a law professor at Catholic university of America's Columbus School of Law, where he founded and directs the interdisciplinary program in Law & Religion. He joined the faculty in 1982, and served as Interim Dean of the law school from 1999-2001. From 1983 to 1989, he served as a commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In that role, he led the commission's discussions in the areas of discrimination on the basis of disability, national origin and religion.

Prior to joining the faculty at Catholic University, Bob spent two years in private practice with the Cleveland-based law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. He next served for five years as general counsel to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and as an adjunct professor at Marquette University.

Bob is co-author of the leading law school textbook in the United States on the subject of religious liberty (Religious Liberty in a Pluralistic Society, Carolina Academic Press, 2nd edition 2002). In addition to his expertise in that field, he has litigated, published, and/or taught in the areas of freedom of speech; discrimination on the basis of race, disability, national origin and religion; comparative constitutional law; private international law (conflict of laws); legal ethics; and bioethics.

Bob is a former member of the Board of Director of Americans United for Life and a founding advisor to the National Lawyers Association. He and his wife Brenda have raised two children and reside in Arlington, Virginia.

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