Peter Steffensen

Assistant Director of the First Amendment Clinic, Faculty Law Fellow, and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Law
Fellow faculty
Peter Steffensen is a law fellow with the First Amendment Clinic at SMU Dedman School of Law. Before coming to SMU, Peter was a Staff Attorney in the Criminal Injustice Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project, where he litigated and advocated for systemic policy change in the areas of pretrial detention, conditions of confinement, and police abuse & misconduct, among others. Peter received his B.A. from Rice University in 2010, and his J.D. from NYU School of Law in 2017.
Area of expertise
- First Amendment Law
Education
B.A., Rice University
J.D., NYU School of Law
Articles
Press Freedoms Under Pressure: Clinical Perspectives on the State of Press Freedoms in Texas in 2024, 77 SMU Law Review 605 (2024) (with Thomas Leatherbury)SMU Repository
Media
Artnet, quoted in Why the Row Over Sally Mann’s Photos Strikes Me as an Artist—and Texas Native (February 2025)
Artnet, quoted in Sally Mann Photos Reportedly Seized From Texas Museum Exhibition (January 2025)
KERA, quoted in Photos removed from Fort Worth museum as police investigate child pornography allegations (January 2025)
Fort Worth Report, quoted in Groups plan to protest at True Texas Project event (July 2024)