Brannon P. Denning, the Starnes Professor of Law at Samford University Cumberland School of Law, has been announced as a recipient of the 2025 Thomas M. Cooley Book Prize by Georgetown Law’s Center for the Constitution. The annual award recognizes exceptional books, and their authors, that advance our understanding of, and commitment to, the Constitution.
Denning will be recognized alongside his co-author, Robert J. Cottrol, for their collaborative work, To Trust the People with Arms: The Supreme Court and the Second Amendment. The book, published in October 2023 by the University of Kansas Press, examines the historical, legal and cultural underpinnings of the Second Amendment, offering an in-depth exploration of the Supreme Court’s evolving jurisprudence surrounding the right to keep and bear arms. Their work provides a balanced and scholarly treatment of a deeply contested constitutional issue, situating the Second Amendment within broader questions of liberty, government power and historical interpretation.
“I am grateful and humbled to share this award from the Center with my co-author Bob Cottrol,” Denning said. “It is especially flattering to receive an award previously given to my idols of constitutional scholarship.”
The 2025 Cooley Prize will be presented at the Center’s annual gala, to be held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., in May in conjunction with the annual Thomas M. Cooley Judicial Lecture.
Read Georgetown Law’s official announcement.
