Hamburger graduated from Princeton University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in history, and from Yale Law School in 1982 with a Juris Doctor.

[1] During his time at George Washington, Hamburger was the Jack N. Pritzker Distinguished Visiting Professor at Northwestern University Law School in the fall of 1999.

[1] Hamburger is a scholar of the First Amendment who has studied "Jefferson's thinking and actions with respect to matters of church and state".

"[3] Hamburger has criticized Justice Hugo Black, who served on the Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971, arguing that Black's views on the need for separation of church and state were deeply tainted by prominent roles in the Ku Klux Klan, which, beyond its well-known role as an anti-Black extremist hate group, also harbored extreme anti-Catholic views.

"[5] The NCLA has received financial support from entities affiliated with Charles Koch and Leonard Leo.