Thomas C. Grey is the Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law, Emeritus, at

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

. As a legal theorist and a historian of modern American legal thought, Grey has written widely on

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

legal formalism Legal formalism is both a descriptive theory and a normative theory of how judges should decide cases. In its descriptive sense, formalists maintain that judges reach their decisions by applying uncontroversial principles to the facts; formalis ...

legal realism Legal realism is a naturalistic approach to law. It is the view that jurisprudence should emulate the methods of natural science, i.e., rely on empirical evidence. Hypotheses must be tested against observations of the world. Legal realists be ...

, and the jurisprudence of

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...

Education

Grey attended

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 ...

, then received his

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 years ...

from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1963 and a Bachelor of Arts from

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 the ...

in 1965, where he studied as a

Marshall Scholar The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...

. Grey received his

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

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 1968. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the

Chicago-Kent College of Law Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school affiliated with the Illinois Institute of Technology. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. It is ranked 91st among U.S. law schools, and its trial advocacy program is ranked in ...

Early professional career

Following law school, Grey clerked for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

and for Justice

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

of the

Supreme Court of the United States 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 ...

. Grey also worked as a staff attorney at the Washington Research Project in Washington, D.C.

Academic career

Grey joined the faculty of

in 1971. At Stanford, Grey taught Torts to first-year law students for over 30 years. Grey's scholarship has been published in many leading law journals, including the ''

Yale Law Journal The ''Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ), known also as the ''Yale Law Review'', is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students ...

'', ''

Stanford Law Review The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produces six ...

'', ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

'', ''

NYU Law Review The ''New York University Law Review'' is a bimonthly general law review covering legal scholarship in all areas, including legal theory and policy, environmental law, legal history, and international law. The journal was established in 1924 as a ...

'', and ''

California Law Review ''California Law Review'' (also referred to as ''CLR'') is the journal of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. It was established in 1912. The application process consists of an anonymous write-on competition, with grades playing ...

'', among others. His 1975 law review article, ''Do We Have an Unwritten Constitution?'', published in Volume 27 of the ''Stanford Law Review'', is the 55th most-cited law review article of all-time.

Personal life

Grey married Catherine Stevenson, a Stanford classmate and fellow philosophy major. She also graduated from the

in 1968, but then decided to become a doctor and ultimately graduated from the

Stanford University Medical School Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

and practiced medicine. The couple had one daughter. They later divorced amicably, and Catherine ultimately died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

. Grey was married to

Barbara Allen Babcock Barbara Allen Babcock (July 6, 1938 – April 18, 2020) was the Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita, at Stanford Law School. She was an expert in criminal and civil procedure and was a member of the Stanford Law School faculty from 1972 ...

, the Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita, at Stanford Law School, until her death in April 2020. He has a daughter and a granddaughter.

Books

* Thomas C. Grey (editor). ''The Legal Enforcement of Morality''. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1983. * Thomas C. Grey. ''The Wallace Stevens Case: Law and the Practice of Poetry''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991. * Thomas C. Grey, Robert C. Post,

K. Anthony Appiah Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, Cultural studies, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include Political philosophy, political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and philosophy ...

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...

, and Reva B. Siegel. ''Prejudicial Appearances: The Logic of American Antidiscrimination Law''. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. * Thomas C. Grey. ''Formalism and Pragmatism in American Law''. Boston: Brill Academic Publishing, 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Thomas C. American lawyers Living people Stanford University alumni Yale Law School alumni Stanford Law School faculty Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Marshall Scholars

Education

Early professional career

Academic career

Personal life

Books

See also

References