William Warner Van Alstyne (February 8, 1934 – January 29, 2019) was an American attorney, law professor, and constitutional law scholar. Prior to retiring in 2012, he held the named position of Lee Professor of Law at William and Mary Law School. He was the Perkins Professor of Law at Duke Law School for more than 30 years. Among many others, he taught at Chicago Law School, Stanford Law School, University of California, Berkeley Law School, University of California, Los Angeles Law School, and Michigan Law School. Early life and education Van Alstyne was born in Chico, California to Richard and Margaret (Ware) Van Alstyne. His father was a college professor and historian and his mother was a writer of children's literature. Van Alstyne received his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy magna cum laude from the University of Southern California. He received his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School. Following his admission to the California Bar and brief service as deputy attorney general of California, he joined the civil rights division of the U. S. department of justice, handling voting rights cases in the South. For many years, he was active in the American Association of University of Professors (AAUP). Career Following active duty with the United States Air Force, he was appointed to the law faculty of the Ohio State University, advancing to full professor in three years. Van Alstyne was named to Duke's William R. and Thomas S. Perkins Chair of Law in 1974. He held a certificate from The Hague Academy of International Law and has been honored with LL.D. degrees by Wake Forest University and the College of William and Mary. In 1982, Van Alstyne came out against a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for voluntary school prayer, saying it would "install the first seeds of theocracy into our government institutions." In 1987, Van Alstyne was selected in a poll by the New York Law Journal of federal judges, attorneys, and academics, as one of three academics among "the ten most qualified" persons in the country for appointment to the supreme court, a distinction repeated in a similar poll by The American Lawyer, in 1991. Past national president of the American Association of University Professors and former member of the national board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, he was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. Publications Van