Alan Trammell Publishes Article in the Indiana Law Journal The article examines the reemergence of the theory of territoriality in Supreme Court jurisprudence.

By Law Communications
April 1, 2026

Washington and Lee law professor Alan Trammell, along with coauthor Robin Effron of Fordham Law School, has published an article in the Indiana Law Journal. The article, titled “The Siren Song of Territoriality,” examines the theory of territoriality, an older legal regime which posits that a state’s physical borders define and cabin the scope of its powers.

The authors note that while territoriality is a useful construct for simple issues, such as how states can maintain different speed limits that residents and non-residents alike must obey, rigid territorial thinking eventually broke down in the twentieth century as people and businesses crossed state borders with increasing regularity and advances in technology made the world smaller. However, Trammell and Effron argue that recently the territoriality of a bygone era has seen a resurgence. The U.S. Supreme Court has reinfused various doctrines with nineteenth-century territorial thinking, which is “perplexing because territoriality proves even less adept at addressing contemporary legal questions than it did a century ago.”

“This Article unpacks the conundrum by demonstrating that courts have enabled territorial resurgence by quietly constructing a set of doctrines that function as an escape valve from territoriality. Relying on these aterritorial doctrines and tools, parties can insulate themselves from territoriality’s downsides and simultaneously avail themselves of its benefits. This has left the United States with two procedural regimes: one for the well-heeled, highly informed, and well-represented; another for everyone else,” the authors write.

The full article is available online in the W&L Scholarly Commons.

Alan Trammell teaches and writes primarily in the fields of civil procedure, federal courts, constitutional law, and conflict of laws. He is recognized as one of the leading authorities on universal injunctions and has been invited to present his research at numerous conferences, on podcasts, and in popular media. His scholarship has appeared in the Columbia Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Texas Law Review, and the Vanderbilt Law Review.

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