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Akhil Reed Amar (born September 6, 1958) is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in
constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...
and criminal procedure. He holds the position of Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, and is an adjunct professor of law at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. A ''
Legal Affairs ''Legal Affairs'' was an American legal magazine that was launched under the auspices of Yale Law School, and which later became an independent non-profit venture with an educational mission. As the first general-interest legal magazine, ''Legal A ...
'' poll placed Amar among the top 20 contemporary American legal thinkers.


Early life and education

Amar was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his parents were medical students from India studying at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. His parents later became U.S. citizens. He has two brothers, one of whom,
Vikram Amar Vikram David Amar (born 1963) is an American legal scholar focusing on constitutional law, federal courts, and civil and criminal procedure. In August 2015, he became dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Iwan Foundation Pro ...
, also became a law professor and serves as dean of the
University of Illinois College of Law The University of Illinois College of Law (Illinois Law or UIUC Law) is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public university in Champaign, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S ...
. Amar graduated from Las Lomas High School in
Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek s ...
, in 1976. Amar attended
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, where he
double major A double degree program, sometimes called a dual degree, combined degree, conjoint degree, joint degree or double graduation program, involves a student's working for two university degrees in parallel—either at the same institution or at diffe ...
ed in
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
and
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
. He was a member of the
Yale Debate Association The Yale Debate Association (YDA) is Yale University's only competitive intercollegiate debate team. Founded in 1908, it is the most prolific winner of the American Parliamentary Debate Association's Club of the Year award. The YDA was also the fi ...
and won its Thacher Memorial Prize, and won the Louis Laun Award for excellence in economics. Amar graduated from Yale in 1980 with a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
'' summa cum laude''. He then attended
Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...
, where he was an editor of the '' Yale Law Journal'' and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1984.


Career

After law school, Amar clerked from 1984 to 1985 for Judge Stephen Breyer of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts in the following United St ...
, who later became a
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
. He interviewed for a clerkship on the United States Supreme Court with Justice John Paul Stevens, but was not offered the role. Amar then joined the faculty of the Yale Law School in 1985, where he has remained ever since. Amar is the author of numerous publications and books, most recently ''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 45 cases--tops among scholars under age 65. In surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he typically ranks among America’s five most-cited mid-career legal scholars. Amar was a consultant to the television show ''
The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White Hous ...
'', on which the character Josh Lyman refers to him in an episode in Season 5. Amar has repeatedly served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Pepperdine School of Law and at
Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
and was recently a visiting professor at
University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...
. He has also lectured for
One Day University One Day University is an adult education program founded by Steven Schragis and John Galvin in 2006. The program's one-day sessions feature four or five lectures by leading American university professors. Originally based in the New York City are ...
. He was elected a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 2007. In 2008, U.S. presidential candidate
Mike Gravel Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel ( ; May 13, 1930 – June 26, 2021) was an American politician and writer who served as a United States Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 as a member of the Democratic Party, and who later in life twice ran for ...
said that he would name Amar to the Supreme Court if elected president. Amar, a self-described liberal, has since engaged in advocacy considered controversial amongst progressives. He has argued in favor of
Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since ...
's appointment to the court and has argued that overturning ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'' would not impact other privacy rights. He co-hosts a weekly podcast
Amarica’s Constitution
with a fellow Yale alumnus, Andy Lipka.


Books

* ''The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles'' (1997) * ''For the People'' (with A. Hirsch) (1997) * ''The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction'' (1998) * ''Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking'' (ed. with P. Brest, S. Levinson, and J.M. Balkin), (2000) * ''America's Constitution: A Biography'' (2005) * ''America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By'' (2012) * ''The Bill of Rights Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the American Bill of Rights'' (with L. Adams) (2013) * ''The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic'' (2015) * ''The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era'' (2016) * ''The Words that Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840'' (2021)


See also

*
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact MD, NJ, IL, HI, WA, MA, DC, VT, CA, RI, NY, CT, CO, DE, NM, OR MI, PA, TX The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is a proposed interstate compact among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award a ...


References


External links


Yale Law School bioProfessor Amar's home pageColumbia Law SchoolColumbia Law School biographyUniversity of Pennsylvania Law School biographyGravel's Justice of Choice
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amar, Akhil Reed 1958 births Living people Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan American legal scholars Harvard Law School faculty Pepperdine University faculty Scholars of constitutional law Yale Law School alumni Yale Law School faculty Yale Sterling Professors Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences American academics of Indian descent Yale College alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty American people of Indian descent