Professor Cantu has taught constitutional law at UMKC School of Law since he joined the faculty in 2012. His scholarship focuses structural constitutional law, with an emphasis on presidential power and the proper role of federal courts in our constitutional system. He also teaches Civil Procedure (Jurisdiction), Criminal Procedure I, the Presidential Power Seminar, and the Supreme Court Seminar. Professor Cantu has published in journals such as the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy and Lewis & Clark Law Review.
After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law in 2006, Professor Cantu clerked for U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez of the Southern District of Texas, then for Jennifer W. Elrod of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After clerking, Professor Cantu practiced at Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, LLP, in Houston, where he focused on business litigation and appellate litigation. He has also served as lead counsel in several cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before joining UMKC, Professor Cantu served as a Westerfield Fellow at Loyola New Orleans School of Law.
Professor Cantu has consulted attorneys on litigation implicating constitutional law issues, such as substantive due process. He also regularly appears on radio and television to comment on constitutional issues.
Professor Cantu is a certified flight instructor, dog-lover, jogger, an extremely amateur musician, and a student of philosophy and modern American history. He also enjoys working with his hands. He is presumably one of very few law professors nationally to own a framing nailer. Others should be aware that he is constantly looking for excuses to use it; thus, students and colleagues should avoid references in his presence to things in need of repair.
