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Kit Kinports
Kit Kinports
Born	Mary Kathleen Kinports
Nationality	American
Education	Brown University (BA); University of Pennsylvania (JD)
Occupation	Law professor
Known for	Expert on feminism and criminal law

Kit Kinports is an American legal scholar who is Professor of Law and the Polisher Family Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Pennsylvania State University. She has taught there since 2006 and specializes in feminism, criminal law and constitutional law. In 2024, Kinports announced her retirement from Penn State Law after nearly two decades of service.

Biography

Kinports studied at Brown University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in 1976. She attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, serving as editor-in-chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and graduating with a J.D. in 1980.^[1]^[2] After law school, she clerked for Judge Abner Mikva of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and then for Justice Harry Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court, from 1981 to 1982.^[3] Following her clerkships, she practiced law in Washington, D.C. as an associate of Ennis, Friedman, Bersoff & Ewing.

In 2006, she joined the faculty of Penn State, having previously taught at the University of Illinois College of Law.^[4]^[5] In 2005, she explained the Battered Woman's defense in criminal law.^[6] In 2010, she commented on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[7] In October 2018, she signed a letter opposing the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[8]

She is co-author of a popular case book, Criminal Law: Cases and Materials, now in its fourth edition. In early 2023, Kinports was invited to contribute as an author to the McCormick treatise on Evidence, hailed as a standard text among law students and scholars.^[9]

Personal life

Kinports was previously married to an antitrust scholar and fellow law professor at Dickinson College of Law.^[10]

References

^ "Class of 1976". Brown University. May 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ "Alumni Recruiters Aid in Admissions Process" (PDF). Law Alumni Journal, University of Pennsylvania Law School. XIX (1): 2. Spring 1984. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ Greenhouse, Linda (April 10, 2005). "The Evolution of a Justice". New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ Leiter, Brian (February 14, 2006). "Kinports & Ross from Illinois to Penn State". Brian Leiter's Law School Reports. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ "Previous Recipients of Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction". Office of the Provost. University of Illinois. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ Reutter, Mark (August 15, 2005). "Battered women who kill in non-beating situation have self-defense right". University of Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ "Professor Kit Kinports Looks at Kagan Nomination". Penn State Live. June 28, 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ "Opinion: The Senate Should Not Confirm Kavanaugh". New York Times. October 3, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
^ "Faculty Spotlight". 6 January 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
^ "Bio of Stephen F. Ross". Penn State Law Review. 8 April 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

Select publications

Books

Kinports, Kit; Saltzburg, Stephen A.; Diamond, John L.; Morawetz, Thomas; Little, Rory (2017). Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (4th ed.). Carolina Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-5310-0418-7.
Kinports, Kit; Brown, Mark (2014). Constitutional Litigation Under Section 1983 (3rd ed.). Carolina Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-76989-276-4.

Articles

Kinsport, Kit (2018). "Illegal Predicate Searches and Tainted Warrants After Heien and Strieff". Tul. L. Rev. 92: 837.
Kinsport, Kit (2017). "What Does Edwards Ban?: Interrogating, Badgering, or Initiating Contact?". N. Ky. L. Rev. 43: 359. SSRN 2763240.
Kinsport, Kit (2016). "Heien's Mistake of Law". Ala. L. Rev. 68: 121.
Kinsport, Kit (2015). "The Myth of Battered Woman Syndrome". Temple Pol. & Civ. RTS. L. Rev. 24: 313.
Kinsport, Kit (2010). "Iqbal and Supervisory Immunity". Penn St. L. Rev. 114: 1291.
Kinsport, Kit (1988). "Defending Battered Women's Self-Defense Claims". Or. L. Rev. Rev. 67: 393.