Jedediah Spenser Purdy (born 29 November 1974 in

Chloe, West Virginia Chloe is an unincorporated community in Calhoun County, West Virginia, United States. It lies along West Virginia Route 16 and the West Fork Little Kanawha River, to the south of the towns of Grantsville (the county seat) and Arnoldsburg. ...

) is an American legal scholar and cultural commentator. He is the William S. Beinecke Professor of Law 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 ...

, where he teaches courses on American Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law and Democracy and its Crisis. From 2004 to 2018 Purdy was a professor at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. Purdy is the author of two widely discussed books: ''For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today'' (1999) and ''Being America: Liberty, Commerce and Violence in an American World'' (2003). He is also the author of ''After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene'' (2015), ''The Meaning of Property: Freedom, Community and the Legal Imagination '' (2010), and ''A Tolerable Anarchy: Rebels, Reactionaries, and the Making of American Freedom'' (2009).

Early life and education

Purdy, the son of Wally and Deirdre Purdy, was homeschooled in West Virginia until age 13, high school. He graduated from

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

and

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, where he was inducted into

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

as a junior in 1996 and became a

Truman Scholar The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for public service leadership. It is a federally funded scholarship granted to U.S. undergraduate students for demonstrated leadership potential, academic ...

in 1997. He graduated from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, 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 ...

in its Class of 2001. From 2001 to 2002, he was a fellow at the

New America Foundation New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a think tank in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, educa ...

, a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

that has been described as radical centrist in

orientation Orientation may refer to: Positioning in physical space * Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions * Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building de ...

Career

After law school, Purdy clerked for

Pierre N. Leval Pierre Nelson Leval (born September 4, 1936) is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. At the time of his appointment by President Bill Clinton in 1993, he was a United States District ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

, in New York in 2002-2003. From 2004 to 2019, Purdy was a professor of law at

teaching

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, and

property law Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual pro ...

. He also served on the editorial advisory board of the ''

Ethics & International Affairs ''Ethics & International Affairs'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering ethical aspects of international relations. It was established in 1987 and is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Carnegie Council for Et ...

''. Purdy joined the faculty of

in July 2019.

Works

*''For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today'', Knopf (1999) *''Being America: Liberty, Commerce and Violence in an American World'', Vintage (2003) *''A Tolerable Anarchy: Rebels, Reactionaries, and the Making of American Freedom'', Knopf (2009) *''The Meaning of Property: Freedom, Community and the Legal Imagination'', Yale University Press (2010) *''After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene'', Harvard University Press (2015) *''This Land Is Our Land: The Struggle for a New Commonwealth'', Princeton University Press (October 15, 2019)

Notes

External links

Columbia Law School faculty profile
''New York Times Magazine'', 5 September 1999

Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 17.2 Carnegie Council, September 16, 2003

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080707082431/http://www.mcsweeneys.net/1999/10/12jedediah.html Todd Pruzan, "Jedediah in Love" ''McSweeney's'', 12 October 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Purdy, Jedediah American legal scholars 21st-century American non-fiction writers American political writers Radical centrist writers Duke University School of Law faculty Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Harvard College alumni Yale University alumni People from Calhoun County, West Virginia 1974 births Living people

Early life and education

Career

Works

Notes

See also

External links