Dr. Carlton Waterhouse is a Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law and the director of the Environmental and Climate Justice Center. He is a Member Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform.
Dr. Carlton Waterhouse is an international expert on environmental law and environmental justice, as well as reparations and redress for historic injustices. He is a Professor of Law and the founding director of the Environmental and Climate Justice Center at the Howard University School of Law. The center conducts environmental justice research and advocacy that supports local communities confronting environmental injustices and provides policy interventions that promote environmental justice in local, national, and global arenas.
In 2021, he was appointed by President Joe Biden in the role of Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management at the United States Environmental Protection Agency and nominated to the United States Senate to serve as the Assistant Administrator for the Office. During his two years serving in the Biden-Harris administration, he oversaw the nation’s programs for toxic waste site remediation, community revitalization and redevelopment through contaminated site cleanup, hazardous and solid waste materials management, chemical plant safety, and emergency response to toxic spills, fires, and explosions.
He lectures globally on climate justice, reparations and reconciliation, and group-based inequality. In 2019, he testified on reparations before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States and in 2018 he completed a Fulbright research fellowship in Brazil examining race and police violence. His views have been published in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other media outlets. His scholarship includes essays, articles, and book chapters focused on the ethical and legal dimensions of environmental justice and reparations. His forthcoming book with Cambridge University Press explores the historic and contemporary role of the United States Supreme Court in both maintaining and dismantling racial dominance.
He is a member of American College of Environmental Lawyers, the International Sustainable Development Research Society, a board member of the Environmental Law Institute, and a past board member of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He sits on the National Academy of Sciences Climate Crossroads Committee and actively participates in national and local organizations protecting civil rights and advancing environmental protection and justice. Using an interdisciplinary approach, he examines critical social issues facing the country and the world.
Forthcoming books:
Race, Social Dominance, and the Supreme Court (with Tanya Hernandez, Robert Chang, and Michalyn Steele) (forthcoming Cambridge University Press 2025)
Environmental Justice: Law, Policy & Regulation, 4th Edition (with Cliff Villa, Nadia Ahmad, Rebecca Bratspies, and Patrice Simms) (forthcoming Carolina Academic Press 2025)