Lynn Wardle

Lynn D. Wardle is an American Emeritus Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University. He specializes in family law, constitutional law, and bioethics.

Wardle received his bachelor's degree from BYU in 1971 and graduated cum laude from Duke University Law School in 1974.

Legal career Wardle was a clerk for Judge John Sirica. A discussion of his brief in the June 1983 edition of the West Virginia Law Review mentions him as a professor. In January 1995 Wardle wrote memos to Utah State Senator LeRay McAllister and Utah House of Representatives member Norman L. Nielsen, urging them to propose legislation which would explicitly codify an exception for same-sex marriage into Utah's marriage recognition statue. Nielson subsequently drafted and sponsored House Bill 366 to do exactly that, Wardle's proposed legislation was signed into law in Utah by Governor Mike Leavitt in March 1995, becoming the first of the state-level "DOMA Laws" to go into effect in the United States. Wardle was "the only law professor to testify in favor of DOMA in either the House or the Senate". at the 2007 WCF gathering in Warsaw, and at the 2017 WCF gathering in Budapest.

Wardle currently holds the Bruce C. Hafen Professorship at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. He also edits the Society's web site.

Mormon studies In 1994 Wardle published an article in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies on what the Book of Mormon says about dissent.