Patrick A. Shea (born February 28, 1948) is an American lawyer, author, politician, government official, and legal scholar known for his work on freedom of the press cases.

He then was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he studied human sciences and was part of the first graduating cohort of the degree.

Shea served as a commissioner on the Gore Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, which investigated the TWA Flight 800, in 1996 and 1997.

Shea was an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University from 2001 to 2009.

Shea was a fellowship adviser to honors program at Westminster College, Salt Lake City in collaboration with 'The Living Arts Experience: A Seminar in Liberal Ideals'.

Shea co-authored with Rodney K. Smith Religion and the Press: Keeping First Amendment Values in Balance, a book which argued that Freedom of the Press had been taken too far in allowing the media to publish unsubstantiated claims that demean religious leaders.