Philip Chase Bobbitt, (born July 22, 1948) is an
American author, academic, and lawyer. He is best known for work on U.S.
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
theory
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
, and on the relationship between law, strategy and history in creating and sustaining the State. He is the author of several books: ''Constitutional Fate: Theory of the Constitution'' (1982), ''
The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History'' (2002), and ''
Terror and Consent: the Wars for the Twenty-first Century'' (2008). He is currently the
Herbert Wechsler Professor of Jurisprudence at
Columbia University School of Law
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 a distinguished senior lecturer at
The University of Texas School of Law
The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...
.
Early life
Philip Bobbitt was born in
Temple, Texas
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the city has a population of 82,073 according to the U.S. census, and is one of the two principal cities in Bell County.
Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in ...
, the only child of Oscar Price Bobbitt Jr (1918–1995) and Rebekah Luruth Johnson Bobbitt. Oscar Price Bobbitt Jr was the son of Oscar Price Bobbitt Sr (1892–1965) and Maude Wisner, a direct descendant of
Henry Wisner
Henry Wisner (c. 1720 – March 4, 1790) was a miller from Goshen, New York. He was a Patriot leader during the American Revolution who voted for Independence on July 4, 1776, at the creation of the Declaration of Independence, and represented Ne ...
of Swiss descent, the only delegate from New York to vote for the Declaration of Independence. O.P. Bobbitt was directly descended from William Bobbitt, a Virginia planter (died 1673). Rebekah Bobbitt was the daughter of
Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr.
Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. (October 11, 1877 – October 23, 1937) was an American businessman and politician. He was a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives representing the 89th District. He served in the 29th, 30th, 35th, ...
and Rebekah Baines. Her father and grandfather were members of the Texas Legislature; her great grandfather was president of
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...
. Her brother was
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
, 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Between high school and college, Bobbitt spent a summer with Johnson at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
.
Education
At the age of 15, Bobbitt graduated from
Stephen F. Austin High School, where he was elected president of the student council. He graduated with an A.B. in philosophy from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1971 where his thesis advisor was philosopher
Richard Rorty
Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic ...
. His thesis, "On
Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrians, Austrian-British people, British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy o ...
and a Philosophical
Topology
In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...
," was one of the earliest attempts to argue for an underlying continuity between the ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' and the ''Philosophical Investigations''. While at Princeton, Bobbitt was president of the
Ivy Club
The Ivy Club, often simply Ivy, is the oldest eating club at Princeton University, and it is "still considered the most prestigious" by its members. It was founded in 1879 with Arthur Hawley Scribner as its first head. Ivy is one of the "Big Four ...
and Chairman of the Nassau Literary Magazine.
[The Nassau Herald, "Philip Chase Bobbitt," p. 43 (1971).] He left Princeton after three semesters to enter
AmeriCorps VISTA
AmeriCorps VISTA is a national service program designed to alleviate poverty. President John F. Kennedy originated the idea for VISTA, which was founded as Volunteers in Service to America in 1965, and incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of ...
.
He worked in a poverty program in an all-black area of Los Angeles for two years before returning to college. In 1975 he received his J.D. from
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 Article Editor of the ''
Yale Law Journal'' and taught at Yale College. It was at Yale that he met
Charles L. Black, Jr. (1915–2001), who became a friend and mentor to Bobbitt. After graduating from Yale Law School, Bobbitt clerked for Judge
Henry Jacob Friendly (1903–1986) 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 ju ...
. He received his Ph.D. in modern history from the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
in 1983.
Career
Bobbitt's first book, ''Tragic Choices'' (1978), was written with Yale Law Professor (later Dean and Judge of the Second Circuit)
Guido Calabresi
Guido Calabresi (born October 18, 1932) is an Italian-born American legal scholar and Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a former Dean of Yale Law School, where he has been a pr ...
. The book was a study of how societies make difficult decisions concerning resources and rights—e.g., who gets expensive medical care, who is to be drafted into the army, who may have children, and other society-defining choices. ''Tragic Choices'' has won a number of awards and is studied by multiple disciplines, including law. It has been especially influential in the field of bioethics and was discussed in several countries during the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Writing in ''The Times'' of London about the pandemic, Philip Collins said, "The tragic choice is the pivot of the action in classical tragedy, and a perennial dilemma in the history of philosophy. The best book on how tragedy turns up in politics is Guido Calabresi and Philip Bobbitt's ''Tragic Choices''...In each case a moral imperative clashes with the scarcity of resources."
His second book, ''Constitutional Fate: Theory of the Constitution'', first proposed the model of the six fundamental forms of constitutional argument. One critic subsequently called it, "the outstanding recent work treating constitutional law in terms of the legitimating effects of constitutional argument. It ranks among the most original and impressive works of American jurisprudence to appear during the decade." In 1994,
Akhil 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 ad ...
described ''Constitutional Fate'' as "one of a handful of truly towering works of constitutional theory in the last half-century."
Henry Monaghan,
Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan is a given name and a surname which may refer to:
Surname
* Bob Harlan (born 1936 Robert E. Harlan), American football executive
*Bruce Harlan (1926–1959), American Olympic diver
*Byron B. Harlan (1886–1949), American politician
* Byron ...
Professor of Constitutional Law,
Columbia School
The Columbia School of Linguistics is a group of linguists with a radically functional and empirical conception of language. According to their school of thought, the main function of language is communication, and it is this fact that guides the ...
has said of
''Constitutional Fate'', "I did not realize it at the time ''Constitutional Fate'' was published, but I do now. This is the most important and influential book on judicial review written in my lifetime.".
Bobbitt was also at
Nuffield College, Oxford
Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer c ...
, where he was Anderson Senior Research Fellow and a member of the Modern History faculty from 1983 to 1990; later he was the Marsh Christian Senior Research Fellow in the
Department of War Studies at
King's College London 1994–1997. From 1981 to 1982, and again in 2004 he was visiting research fellow at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been Arundel House in London, England.
The 2017 Global Go To Think ...
.
Until 2007, Bobbitt held the A.W. Walker Centennial Chair at the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, where he taught
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 ...
. In 2005 he was the James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at
Harvard Law School; in 2007, Bobbitt was the Samuel Rubin Visiting 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 accepted a permanent chair later that year; he is now the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Jurisprudence at Columbia and director of the Center for National Security there. He remains distinguished senior lecturer at the University of Texas Law School and senior fellow in the
Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas.
Bobbitt has delivered the Mellon Lectures at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
, the Murphy Lecture on Constitutional Law at
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
, the All Souls College Lectures at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
, among several honorary lectures. In 2016 he was awarded the Jean Mayer Global Citizen Award by
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
.
He has been elected a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Pacific Council on International Affairs, the American Society of International Law, a Life Member of the American Law Institute, a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations, and Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...
. In 1994, he was a Fellow at the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington. He serves as a member of the Commission on the Continuity of Government and served on the Task Force on Law and National Security of the
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, an ...
at
Stanford. For some years he has been a juror for the Civil Courage Prize. In May 2010, he was appointed to serve as a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on International Law. In 2011, he was elected to membership in the Common Room at
All Souls College, Oxford. In 2012, Bobbitt was appointed to the External Advisory Board for the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, on which he served until January 2017.
Views on constitutional law
Like many contemporary scholars, Bobbitt believes that the Constitution's durability rests, in part, in the flexible manner in which it can be and has been interpreted since its creation. He emphasizes the "modalities of constitutional argument": 1) structural; 2) textual; 3) ethical; 4) prudential; 5) historical; and 6) doctrinal. He has argued in his books for the recognition of the ethical modality, which has to do with the traditional vision we have of the nation and the role government ought to play (some scholars call this form "argument from tradition"). He first introduced these forms of argument—or modalities—as a way of understanding constitutional review generally in ''Constitutional Fate: Theory of the Constitution'' (1982), a study of judicial review and then broadened their application to constitutional review generally in ''Constitutional Interpretation'' (1993) which deals with non-judicial examples of constitutional argument and decision making. Bobbitt asserts that all branches of government have a duty to assess the constitutionality of their actions. Bobbitt's "modalities" of constitutional law are now generally considered to be the standard model for constitutional arguments.
Government service
Bobbitt has served extensively in government, for both Democratic and Republican administrations. In the 1970s, he was Associate Counsel to President Carter for which he received the Certificate of Meritorious Service, and worked with
Lloyd Cutler
Lloyd Norton Cutler (November 10, 1917 – May 8, 2005) was an American attorney who served as White House Counsel during the Democratic administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
Early life and education
Cutler was born ...
on the charter of the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
.
He later was Legal Counsel to the Iran-Contra Committee in the U. S. Senate, the Counselor for International Law and member of the Senior Executive Service at the
State Department during the George H. W. Bush administration, and served at the
National Security Council, where he was director for Intelligence Programs, senior director for Critical Infrastructure, and senior director for Strategic Planning during Bill Clinton's presidency. He was a principal draftsman of PDD63, the first presidential document to establish a strategy for critical infrastructure and cyber protection. Subsequently he was strategist in residence to the Secretary of the Navy, Richard Danzig, and has lectured at West Point, Annapolis, and the National Defense University where for some years he delivered the annual opening keynote lecture.
''The Shield of Achilles''
In 2002, Knopf published ''The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History'' (Knopf), an ambitious 900-page work that explicates a theory, actually a philosophy, of historical change in the modern era, and a history of the development of modern constitutional and international law. Bobbitt traces interacting patterns in the (mainly modern
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an) history of strategic
innovation
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...
s, major wars, peace conferences,
international diplomacy
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...
, and
constitution
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 princ ...
al standards for
states. Bobbitt also suggests possible future scenarios and policies appropriate to them.
Arguing that "law and
strategy are not merely made in history. . . they are made of history" (p. 5), Bobbitt presents a dynamic view of historical change that has a dark,
tragic
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...
dimension, for he holds that the painful and, indeed,
atrocious process of resolving issues that create conflict and war tends to cause changes that render obsolete the solution to that conflict (generally a new form of the state possessing a new principle of
legitimacy
Legitimacy, from the Latin ''legitimare'' meaning "to make lawful", may refer to:
* Legitimacy (criminal law)
* Legitimacy (family law)
* Legitimacy (political)
See also
* Bastard (law of England and Wales)
* Illegitimacy in fiction
* Legit (d ...
), even as it is established. This tragic dimension is evoked in the title of Bobbitt's book, inspired by the last lines of Book 18 of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
'', describing a shield fabricated for
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...
by
Hephaestus
Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter B ...
, across the "vast expanse" of which "with all his craft and cunning/the god creates a world of gorgeous immortal work" (trans.
Robert Fagles
Robert Fagles (; September 11, 1933 – March 26, 2008) was an American professor, poet, and academic, best known for his many translations of ancient Greek and Roman classics, especially his acclaimed translations of the epic poems of Homer. ...
).
''The Shield of Achilles'' generated much interest in the diplomatic and political community. Public officials who followed Bobbitt's works included
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...
,
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
; the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...
, who built his
Dimbleby Lecture around Bobbitt's thesis and the former United States Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
''The Shield of Achilles'' was the 2003 Grand Prize Winner of the Hamilton Awards and the
Arthur Ross Book Award
The Arthur Ross Book Award is a politics-related literary award.
History and administration
It was endowed in 2001 by Arthur Ross, an American businessman and philanthropist, for the purpose of recognizing books that make an outstanding contr ...
Bronze Medalist of the Council on Foreign Relations for Best Book in Foreign Policy of that year. British military historian
Michael Howard wrote, ''The Shield of Achilles'' "will be one of the most important works on international relations published during the last fifty years", and
Paul Kennedy
Paul Michael Kennedy (born 17 June 1945) is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and great pow ...
, writing in
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
argued that it may "become a classic for future generations."
''Terror and Consent''
In 2008, Knopf published Bobbitt's ''
Terror and Consent: the Wars for the Twenty-first Century'', which applied many of the ideas of ''The Shield of Achilles'' to the problems of wars on terror. In ''Terror & Consent'', Bobbitt argued that the only justification for warfare in the 21st century was to protect human rights.
''Terror and Consent'' was on both the ''New York Times'' and the London ''Evening Standard''’s best-seller lists and was widely reviewed. The front page of the ''New York Times Sunday Book Review'' called it, "quite simply the most profound book to have been written on the subject of American foreign policy since the attacks of 9/11 — indeed, since the end of the cold war." Among others, Senator
John McCain praised the book as "the best book I've ever read on terrorism," and
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
called Bobbitt, "perhaps the most important political philosopher today."
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
wrote of ''Terror and Consent'', "It may be written by an academic but it is actually required reading for political leaders."
David Cameron, the leader of the UK Conservative Party put it on a list of summer reading for his parliamentary colleagues in 2008.
In 2017, he had a spirited exchange arguing that litigation is not the exclusive legal method for determining constitutionality in national security affairs and that law applied even when the constitutional issue in question was not justiciable.
General Sir
Rupert Smith
General Sir Rupert Anthony Smith, (born 13 December 1943) is a retired British Army officer and author of '' The Utility of Force''. He was a senior commander during the Gulf War, for which he was recognised with the award of the Distinguished ...
wrote that ''Terror and Consent'', "shows more convincingly than any other book I know, why the defeat of terrorism must be brought about within the context of law." Bobbitt is currently at work on a third book in this series, ''The Bow of Odysseus: Statecraft and the Future of World Order.''
''The Garments of Court and Palace''
In 2013, Bobbitt published a study of
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...
entitled ''The Garments of Court and Palace: Machiavelli and the World That He Made''. In this book he argues that only by understanding ''
The Prince
''The Prince'' ( it, Il Principe ; la, De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new princes and royals. The general theme of ''The ...
'' as one half of a constitutional treatise on the State (the other being Machiavelli's Discourses) can we reconcile the many otherwise contradictory elements of his work. Bobbitt also situates this constitutional treatise in the politics of Machiavelli's day.
Other works
In the early '80s, Bobbitt published ''Democracy and Deterrence: The History and Future of Nuclear Strategy''. This book argued that US nuclear targeting had gone through reciprocal cycles, alternating between total and graduated response regimes. These cycles were driven, he argued, not by changes in the central deterrence relationship between the American homeland and the homelands of its adversaries but by developments in extended deterrence—the protection of non-homeland theatres by US nuclear forces. An accompanying volume, ''US Nuclear Strategy: A Reader'' was edited by Bobbitt,
Gregory F. Treverton and Sir
Lawrence Freedman
Sir Lawrence David Freedman, (born 7 December 1948) is a British academic, historian and author with specialising in foreign policy, international relations and strategy. He has been described as the "dean of British strategic studies" and wa ...
.
Bobbitt's most recent two books are second editions of classics in US law, ''The Ages of American Law'' by Grant Gilmore, first published by the 1970s which Bobbitt brought up to present time; and ''Impeachment: A Handbook'' by Charles Black. ''Impeachment'' was doubled in size, and was widely discussed during the various Trump proceedings. Both books were published by the Yale Press.
Bobbitt is currently at work on ''The Constitution Trilogy'' for Oxford University Press.
Other activities
Since 1990, Bobbitt has endowed the
Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, awarded biennially by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
. It is the only prize given by the nation for poetry.
He is 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 ...
, and a former trustee of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
. In 2004 ''
Prospect Magazine'' named him One of Britain's Top 100 Public Intellectuals. He occasionally writes essays, typically on
foreign policy, published in
''The New York Times'', and ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. He has served on the boards of the Institute for Religious Studies; the Barbara Jordan Freedom Foundation, the Rothko Interfaith Chapel, the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, and the Editorial Board of ''Biosecurity and Bioterrorism''. He is a member of the Executive Committee of The Pilgrims.
In 2021 Bobbitt was made an honorary Knight Commander of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(KBE).
Writings
Books
*''Constitutional Fate: Theory of the Constitution''. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.
*''Democracy and Deterrence: The History and Future of Nuclear Strategy''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987.
*''United States Nuclear Strategy: A Reader''. (Co-editor, with
Gregory F. Treverton and
Lawrence Freedman
Sir Lawrence David Freedman, (born 7 December 1948) is a British academic, historian and author with specialising in foreign policy, international relations and strategy. He has been described as the "dean of British strategic studies" and wa ...
.) New York: New York University Press, 1989.
*''Tragic Choices''. (Co-author:
Guido Calabresi
Guido Calabresi (born October 18, 1932) is an Italian-born American legal scholar and Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a former Dean of Yale Law School, where he has been a pr ...
.) New York: W.W. Norton, 1990.
*''Constitutional Interpretation''. Blackwell, 1991.
*''
The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History''. Foreword by
Michael Howard. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. (Paperback
003), 2003 Grand Prize Winner,
Robert W. Hamilton Awards and Bronze Medalist,
Arthur Ross Book Award
The Arthur Ross Book Award is a politics-related literary award.
History and administration
It was endowed in 2001 by Arthur Ross, an American businessman and philanthropist, for the purpose of recognizing books that make an outstanding contr ...
*''
Terror and Consent: the Wars for the Twenty-first Century''. Knopf/Penguin, 2008.
*''
Garments of Court and Palace: Machiavelli and the World That He Made''. New York. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013 .
*''
The Ages of American Law, second edition.''. (Lead Author:
Grant Gilmore.) New Haven: Yale University Press, 2d Edition
014 014 may refer to:
* Argus As 014
* BIND-014
* 014 Construction Unit
* Divi Divi Air Flight 014
* Pirna 014
* Tyrrell 014
The Tyrrell 014 was a Formula One car, designed for Tyrrell Racing by Maurice Philippe for use in the season. The cars wer ...
*''
Impeachment: A Handbook''. (Lead Author:
Charles L. Black, Jr.) New Haven: Yale University Press
018
Articles
Powers: An Essay on John Hart Ely's ''War and Responsibility: Constitutional Lessons of Vietnam and Its Aftermath''.'Michigan Law Quarterly'' 92, no. 6 (May 1994): 1364–1400. (Argues for the unconstitutionality of the
War Powers Resolution
The War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act) () is a federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to a ...
.)
Warrantless Debate Over Wiretapping."''The New York Times'', August 22, 2007. (Argues for the necessity of legislation amending the legal framework for the interception of communications from foreign sources.)
"In This New Age of Warfare We Need Clearer Rules on When to Cross Borders."''The Guardian'', June 16, 2008.
with John C. Danforth, ''The New York Times'', September 11, 2008.
''The Guardian'', November 9, 2008.
''The New York Times'', December 14, 2008.
"Obama is Right: This is No Time for Posturing on Iran"''Evening Standard'', June 22, 2009.
''The New York Times'', July 8, 2009.
''The Independent'', December 16, 2010.
of Disorder"''New Statesman'', March 1, 2016.
"A Way Forward in the North Korea Crisis"''TIME Magazine'', September 20, 2017.
The President Can't Pardon Himself, So Why Do People Think He Can?"''Lawfare'', June 20, 2018.
privilege is vitally important. But not at the expense of national security."''The Washington Post'', September 27, 2019.
Sort of "Abuse of Power" Would Amount to an Impeachable Offense?"''Just Security'', January 23, 2020.
Personal life
Bobbitt has been married twice.
His second marriage was in 2011, to Maya Ondalikoglu, a former student.
They were married by
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 ...
Associate Justice
Elena Kagan in her chambers.
Maya Bobbitt took her BA, ''summa cum laude'', at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
where she gave the Commencement Address at her graduation. She is an accomplished equestrian and competitive show jumper and a certified SCUBA divemaster whose specialty is "technical diving". They have a son and three daughters. All the Bobbitt children were baptized at St. James' Church, Piccadilly, by
Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...
, former
Archbishop of Canterbury.
See also
*
Long War (20th century)
''The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History'' is a historico-philosophical work by Philip Bobbitt. It was first published in 2002 by Alfred Knopf in the US and Penguin in the UK.
Theses
The work consists of two volumes, each ...
References
External links
Columbia Law School faculty profileUniversity of Texas School of Law faculty profileVideo discussion/interview with Philip Bobbitton
Bloggingheads.tv
Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...
Interview on The Charlie Rose ShowGlobal Axess, Engelsberg 2007Discussion of ''The Shield of Achilles'' between Bobbitt and Sir Michael Howard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobbitt, Philip
1948 births
Living people
People from Temple, Texas
American people of Swiss descent
Academics of King's College London
Columbia University faculty
Harvard Law School faculty
University of Texas at Austin faculty
Columbia Law School faculty
United States National Security Council staffers
Princeton University alumni
Lyndon B. Johnson family
Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire