Akhil Reed Amar

Akhil Reed Amar (born September 6, 1958) is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in constitutional law and criminal procedure. He holds the position of Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and is an adjunct professor of law at Columbia University.^[1] In 2008, a Legal Affairs poll placed Amar among the top 20 contemporary American legal thinkers.^[2]

Akhil Amar
Amar in 2011
Born	Akhil Reed Amar (1958-09-06) September 6, 1958 (age 65) Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Nationality	American
Title	Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science
Spouse	Vinita Parkash ​ (m. 1989)​
Relatives	Vikram Amar (brother)
Awards	American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007)
Academic background
Education	Yale University (BA, JD)
Influences	Stephen Breyer
Academic work
Discipline	Constitutional law
Institutions	Yale University Columbia University University of Pennsylvania
Notable students	John Yoo Neal Katyal Chris Coons Michael Bennet Jake Sullivan Cory Booker Sarah Cleveland Cyrus Habib Josh Hawley Stephanos Bibas Stephen A. Higginson Jill A. Pryor William J. Nardini Neera Tanden Jeffrey Rosen Brian Deese Steven Engel Rob Bonta Alex Azar Candace Jackson-Akiwumi Michael Barr

Early life and education

Amar was born in 1958 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His parents were medical students from India studying at the University of Michigan, and they later became U.S. citizens.^[3] Amar's father became a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.^[4] Amar has two brothers, one of whom, Vikram Amar, is also a legal scholar and is the dean of the University of Illinois College of Law.^[5]

Amar grew up in Walnut Creek, California, graduating in 1976 from Las Lomas High School.^[6] He then attended Yale University, where he double majored in history and economics. He was a member of the Yale Debate Association and won its Thacher Memorial Prize, as well as Yale's Louis Laun Award for excellence in economics. Amar graduated from Yale in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude. He then attended Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and graduated in 1984 with a Juris Doctor.

After law school, Amar was a law clerk for U.S. circuit judge (and future Supreme Court justice) Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1984 to 1985. He then interviewed for a clerkship with Justice John Paul Stevens but did not receive an offer.

Academic career

In 1985, Amar joined the faculty of the Yale Law School, where he has remained ever since. He is the author of publications and books, including The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840. Justices across the spectrum on the Supreme Court have cited his work in more than four dozen cases—the most among living non-emeritus scholars. In surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he typically ranks among America’s five most-cited mid-career legal scholars.^{[citation needed]}

Amar was a consultant to the television show The West Wing, on which the character Josh Lyman refers to him in an episode in Season 5.^[7]

Amar has repeatedly served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Pepperdine School of Law and at Columbia Law School and was recently a visiting professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also lectured for One Day University. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.^[8]

In 2008, U.S. presidential candidate Mike Gravel said that he would name Amar to the Supreme Court if elected president.^[9]

Amar, a self-described liberal, has since engaged in advocacy considered controversial among progressive outlets, bloggers, and professors.^[10][11][12] He argued in favor of Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Court^[13] and argued that overturning Roe v. Wade would not affect other privacy rights.^[14]

Since early 2021 he has co-hosted a weekly podcast, Amarica’s Constitution, with a fellow Yale alumnus, Andy Lipka. Guests have included Bob Woodward,^[15] Floyd Abrams,^[16] and Gary Hart.^[17]

Books

• The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles (1997) ISBN 0-300-06678-3
• For the People (with Alan Hirsch) (1997) ISBN 0-684-87102-5
• The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction (1998) ISBN 0-300-07379-8
• Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking (ed. with Paul Brest, Sanford Levinson, and Jack M. Balkin), (2000) ISBN 0-7355-5062-X
• America's Constitution: A Biography (2005) ISBN 1-4000-6262-4
• America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By (2012) ISBN 978-0-465-02957-0
• The Bill of Rights Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the American Bill of Rights (with Les Adams) (2013) ISBN 978-1-62087-572-8
• The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic (2015) ISBN 978-0-465-06590-5
• The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era (2016) ISBN 978-0-465-09633-6
• The Words that Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840 (2021) ISBN 978-0-465-09635-0

See also

• National Popular Vote Interstate Compact

References

1. Tam, Derek (November 7, 2008). "Amar Earns Sterling Rank". Yale Daily News. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
2. "Who Are the Top 20 Legal Thinkers in America?". Legal Affairs. Retrieved July 4, 2008.
3. "Akhil Reed Amar: "America's Unwritten Constitution"". The Diane Rehm Show. Washington, DC. September 13, 2012. National Public Radio. WAMU. Transcript.
4. Nordlinger, Jay (22 May 2022). "A Professor and the American Heritage". National Review. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
5. "Vikram David Amar". University of Illinois College of Law. 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
6. . India-West. May 20, 2015. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
7. "5.10: The Stormy Present (with Bellamy Young)". The West Wing Weekly. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
8. "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (PDF) from the original on May 10, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
9. Kaplan, Thomas (February 7, 2008). . Yale Daily News. Archived from the original on October 24, 2008. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
10. Lemieux, Scott (June 24, 2022). "Getting Real About the Post-'Roe' World". The American Prospect. The American Prospect, Inc. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
11. Weissmann, Jordan (July 10, 2018). "The Liberal Case for Kavanaugh Is Complete Crap". Slate. The Slate Group. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
12. Koppelman, Andrew (May 22, 2022). "Akhil Amar and the Dobbs draft". The Hill. Nextstar Media, Inc. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
13. Amar, Akhil Reed (10 July 2018). "Opinion | A Liberal's Case for Brett Kavanaugh". The New York Times.
14. Amar, Akhil Reed (13 May 2022). "The End of Roe v. Wade". Wall Street Journal.
15. "The Purpose of the Truth". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
16. "Constitutionalists United". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
17. "Filibuster Finis". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 3 August 2023.

External links

• Yale Law School bio
• Professor Amar's home page
• Columbia Law School
• Columbia Law School biography 2016-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
• University of Pennsylvania Law School biography
• Gravel's Justice of Choice
• Appearances on C-SPAN