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Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law,
environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...
, law and
behavioral economics Behavioral economics studies the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the decisions of individuals or institutions, such as how those decisions vary from those implied by classical economic theory. ...
. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ''The World According to Star Wars'' (2016) and '' Nudge '' (2008). He was the Administrator of the White House
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA ) is a Division within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which in turn, is within the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide policie ...
in the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
from 2009 to 2012. As a professor at the University of Chicago Law School for 27 years, he wrote influential works on regulatory and constitutional law, among other topics. Since leaving the White House, Sunstein has been the Robert Walmsley University Professor at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
. In 2014, studies of legal publications found Sunstein to be the most frequently cited American legal scholar by a wide margin.


Early life and education

Sunstein was born on September 21, 1954, in Waban, Massachusetts, to Marian (née Goodrich), a teacher, and Cass Richard Sunstein, a builder, both Jewish. He graduated in 1972 from
Middlesex School Middlesex School is a coeducational, non-sectarian, day and boarding independent secondary school for grades 9-12 located in Concord, Massachusetts. It was founded as an all-boys school in 1901 by a Roxbury Latin School alumnus, Frederick Winsor, ...
. He has said that as a teenager, he was briefly infatuated with the works of
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
, " t after about six weeks of enchantment, her books started to make me sick. Contemptuous toward most of humanity, merciless about human frailty, and constantly hammering on the moral evils of redistribution, they produced a sense of claustrophobia." After high school, Sunstein attended Harvard College. He was a member of the varsity squash team and an editor of the '' Harvard Lampoon'', and graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts, ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
''. He then attended the
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
, where he became the executive editor of the ''
Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
'' and was a member of the winning team of the
Ames Moot Court Competition The Ames Moot Court Competition is the annual upper level moot court competition at Harvard Law School. It is designed and administered by the HLS Board of Student Advisers and has been in existence since 1911, when it was founded by a bequest in h ...
. He graduated in 1978 with a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
, ''magna cum laude''.


Career

After law school, Sunstein first clerked for Justice
Benjamin Kaplan Benjamin Kaplan (April 11, 1911 – August 18, 2010) was an American copyright and procedure scholar and jurist. He was also notable as "one of the principal architects"David Childs ''The Independent'', September 10, 2010. of the Nuremberg trials ...
of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...
from 1978 to 1979, then for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1979 to 1980. After his clerkships, Sunstein spent one year as an attorney-advisor in the U.S. Department of Justice's
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...
. In 1981, he became an assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School (1981–1983), where he also became an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science (1983–1985). In 1985, Sunstein was made a full professor of both political science and law; in 1988, he was named the
Karl N. Llewellyn Karl Nickerson Llewellyn (May 22, 1893 – February 13, 1962) was a prominent American jurisprudential scholar associated with the school of legal realism. ''The Journal of Legal Studies'' has identified Llewellyn as one of the twenty most cited A ...
Professor of Jurisprudence in the Law School and Department of Political Science. The university honored him in 1993 with its "distinguished service" accolade, permanently changing his title to Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence in the Law School and Department of Political Science. In 2009, Sunstein was described by fellow Chicago professor
Douglas G. Baird Douglas Gordon Baird (born July 10, 1953) is an American legal scholar, the Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor and a former dean of the University of Chicago Law School. He joined the faculty in 1980 and served as the dean from 19 ...
as a "Chicago person through and through". Sunstein was the Samuel Rubin Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia Law School in the fall of 1986 and a visiting professor at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
in the spring 1987, winter 2005, and spring 2007 terms. He teaches courses in constitutional law, administrative law, and
environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...
, as well as the required first-year course "Elements of the Law", which is an introduction to legal reasoning, legal theory, and the interdisciplinary study of law, including law and economics. In the fall of 2008, he joined the faculty of Harvard Law School and began serving as the director of its Program on Risk Regulation:
The Program on Risk Regulation will focus on how law and policy deal with the central hazards of the 21st century. Anticipated areas of study include terrorism, climate change, occupational safety, infectious diseases, natural disasters, and other low-probability, high-consequence events. Sunstein plans to rely on significant student involvement in the work of this new program.
On January 7, 2009, '' The Wall Street Journal'' reported that Sunstein would be named to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). That news generated controversy among progressive legal scholars and environmentalists. Sunstein's confirmation was long blocked because of controversy over allegations about his political and academic views. On September 9, 2009, the Senate voted for cloture on Sunstein's nomination as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. The motion passed in a 63–35 vote. The Senate confirmed Sunstein on September 10, 2009, in a 57–40 vote. In his research on risk regulation, Sunstein is known for developing, together with
Timur Kuran Timur Kuran is a Turkish-American economist and political scientist, Professor of Economics and Political Science, and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. His work spans economics, political science, history, and law. Ea ...
, the concept of
availability cascade An availability cascade is a self-reinforcing cycle that explains the development of certain kinds of collective beliefs. A novel idea or insight, usually one that seems to explain a complex process in a simple or straightforward manner, gains rapid ...
s, wherein popular discussion of an idea is self-feeding and causes individuals to over weigh its importance. Sunstein's books include ''After the Rights Revolution'' (1990), ''The Partial Constitution'' (1993), ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'' (1993), ''Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict'' (1996), ''Free Markets and Social Justice'' (1997), ''One Case at a Time'' (1999), ''Risk and Reason'' (2002), ''Why Societies Need Dissent'' (2003), ''Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle'' (2005), ''Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America'' (2005), ''Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary'' (2005), ''Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge'' (2006), and, co-authored with Richard Thaler, '' Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness'' (2008). Sunstein's 2006 book, ''Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge'', explores methods for aggregating information; it contains discussions of prediction markets, open-source software, and wikis. Sunstein's 2004 book, ''The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever'', advocates the
Second Bill of Rights The Second Bill of Rights or Bill of Economic Rights was proposed by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, January 11, 1944. In his address, Roosevelt suggested that the nation had come ...
proposed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Among these rights are a right to an education, a right to a home, a right to health care, and a right to protection against monopolies; Sunstein argues that the Second Bill of Rights has had a large international impact and should be revived in the United States. His 2001 book, ''Republic.com'', argued that the Internet may weaken democracy because it allows citizens to isolate themselves within groups that share their own views and experiences, and thus cut themselves off from any information that might challenge their beliefs, a phenomenon known as
cyberbalkanization The splinternet (also referred to as cyber-balkanization or internet balkanization) is a characterization of the Internet as splintering and dividing due to various factors, such as technology, commerce, politics, nationalism, religion, and diverg ...
. Sunstein co-authored '' Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness'' (Yale University Press, 2008) with economist Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago. ''Nudge'' discusses how public and private organizations can help people make better choices in their daily lives. Thaler and Sunstein argue that:
People often make poor choices – and look back at them with bafflement! We do this because as human beings, we all are susceptible to a wide array of routine biases that can lead to an equally wide array of embarrassing blunders in education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, happiness, and even the planet itself.
The ideas in the book proved popular with politicians such as U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, and the
British Conservative Party The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, ...
in general. The "Nudge" idea has also been criticised. Dr Tammy Boyce, from public health foundation
The King's Fund The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events. Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. T ...
, has said:
We need to move away from short-term, politically motivated initiatives such as the 'nudging people' idea, which are not based on any good evidence and don't help people make long-term behavior changes.
Contributing to the anthology ''Our American Story'' (2019), Sunstein addressed the possibility of a shared American narrative. He cited the concepts of self-government and equal dignity of human beings, but focused in particular on stories: "an emphasis on what happened before and after the firing shots in Concord and the courageous response of the embattled farmers maintains continuity with the historical facts and offers us something on which we can build." Sunstein is a contributing editor to '' The New Republic'' and '' The American Prospect'' and is a frequent witness before
congressional committees A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress). Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the ...
. He played an active role in opposing the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998. In recent years, Sunstein has been a guest writer on '' The Volokh Conspiracy'' blog as well as the blogs of law professors Lawrence Lessig (Harvard) and Jack Balkin ( Yale). He is considered so prolific a writer that in 2007, an article in the legal publication '' The Green Bag'' coined the concept of a "Sunstein number" reflecting
degrees of separation Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of "friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also k ...
between various legal authors and Sunstein, paralleling the Erdős numbers sometimes assigned to mathematician authors. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1992), the
American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...
(since 1990), and the American Philosophical Society (elected 2010). He received an Honorary Doctorate from Copenhagen Business School. In February 2020, he wrote an article for Bloomberg titled "The Cognitive Bias That Makes Us Panic About Coronavirus". In it he claimed that "A lot more people are more scared than they have any reason to be" and that "Most people in North America and Europe do not need to worry much about the risk of contracting the disease. That's true even for people who are traveling to nations such as Italy that have seen outbreaks of the disease." He attributed the excessive perceived risk to probability neglect. At time of publication, there have been 68 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., including one death, and approximately 1000 new daily cases worldwide, over 300 of which in Europe. Together with
Daniel Kahneman Daniel Kahneman (; he, דניאל כהנמן; born March 5, 1934) is an Israeli-American psychologist and economist notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics, for which he was award ...
and Olivier Sibony, Sunstein co-authored '' Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment'', which was published in May 2021. Drawing not least upon legal examples, it treats of unwanted variability in human judgments of the same problem, for instance when court judges recommend vastly different sentences for the same crimes. The book looks both at what 'noise in human judgment' is, how it can be detected and how it can be reduced.


Views


Legal philosophy

Sunstein is a proponent of
judicial minimalism Judicial minimalism refers to a philosophy in United States constitutional law which promotes itself as a politically moderate viewpoint such as that of retired Judge Sandra Day O'Connor. It is often compared to other judicial philosophies such a ...
, arguing that judges should focus primarily on deciding the case at hand, and avoid making sweeping changes to the law or decisions that have broad-reaching effects. Some view him as liberal, despite Sunstein's public support for
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's judicial nominees Michael W. McConnell and John G. Roberts, as well as providing strongly maintained theoretical support for the death penalty. Conservative libertarian legal scholar
Richard A. Epstein Richard Allen Epstein (born April 17, 1943) is an American legal scholar known for his writings on torts, contracts, property rights, law and economics, classical liberalism, and libertarianism. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at ...
described Sunstein as "one of the more conservative players in the Obama administration." Much of his work also brings
behavioral economics Behavioral economics studies the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the decisions of individuals or institutions, such as how those decisions vary from those implied by classical economic theory. ...
to bear on law, suggesting that the "rational actor" model will sometimes produce an inadequate understanding of how people will respond to legal intervention. Sunstein has collaborated with academics who have training in behavioral economics, most notably
Daniel Kahneman Daniel Kahneman (; he, דניאל כהנמן; born March 5, 1934) is an Israeli-American psychologist and economist notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics, for which he was award ...
, Richard Thaler, and
Christine M. Jolls Christine Jolls (born October 1, 1967) is the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor of Law and Organization at Yale Law School, where she has been since 2006. She is known for her work in the emerging theory of behavioral economics and law. Her areas of ...
, to show how the theoretical assumptions of law and economics should be modified by new empirical findings about how people actually behave. According to Sunstein, the interpretation of federal law should be made not by judges but by the beliefs and commitments of the U.S. president and those around him. "There is no reason to believe that in the face of statutory ambiguity, the meaning of federal law should be settled by the inclinations and predispositions of federal judges. The outcome should instead depend on the commitments and beliefs of the President and those who operate under him," argued Sunstein. Sunstein (along with his coauthor Richard Thaler) has elaborated the theory of
libertarian paternalism Libertarian paternalism is the idea that it is both possible and legitimate for private and public institutions to affect behavior while also respecting freedom of choice, as well as the implementation of that idea. The term was coined by behav ...
. In arguing for this theory, he counsels thinkers/academics/politicians to embrace the findings of behavioral economics as applied to law, maintaining freedom of choice while also steering peoples' decisions in directions that will make their lives go better. With Thaler, he coined the term " choice architect".


Military commissions

In 2002, at the height of controversy over Bush's creation of military commissions without Congressional approval, Sunstein stepped forward to insist, "Under existing law, President George W. Bush has the legal authority to use military commissions" and that "President Bush's choice stands on firm legal ground." Sunstein scorned as "ludicrous" an argument from law professor
George P. Fletcher George P. Fletcher (born March 5, 1939) is the Cardozo Professor of Jurisprudence at Columbia University School of Law. Fletcher attended Cornell University from 1956 to 1959, studying mathematics and Russian. He received a B.A. in 1960 from Univ ...
, who believed that the Supreme Court would find Bush's military commissions without any legal basis. In 2006, the Supreme Court found the tribunals illegal in '' Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'' in a 5–3 vote.


First Amendment

In his book ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'' Sunstein says there is a need to reformulate
First Amendment law This is a list of cases that appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States involving the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The establishment of religion Blue laws * '' McGowan v. Maryland'' (1961) * '' Braunfeld v. ...
. He thinks that the current formulation, based on Justice Holmes' conception of free speech as a marketplace, "disserves the aspirations of those who wrote America's founding document." The purpose of this reformulation would be to "reinvigorate processes of democratic deliberation, by ensuring greater attention to public issues and greater diversity of views."Sunstein, ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'', p. 119 He is concerned by the present "situation in which like-minded people speak or listen mostly to one another," and thinks that in "light of astonishing economic and technological changes, we must doubt whether, as interpreted, the constitutional guarantee of free speech is adequately serving democratic goals." He proposes a "New Deal for speech hatwould draw on Justice Brandeis' insistence on the role of free speech in promoting political deliberation and citizenship."


Animal rights

Some of Sunstein's work has addressed the question of animal rights, as he co-authored a book dealing with the subject, has written papers on it, and was an invited speaker at "Facing Animals", an event at Harvard University described as "a groundbreaking panel on animals in ethics and the law."Facing Animals
May 9, 2007, speech at Harvard from Google video
"Every reasonable person believes in animal rights," he says, continuing that "we might conclude that certain practices cannot be defended and should not be allowed to continue, if, in practice, mere regulation will inevitably be insufficient – and if, in practice, mere regulation will ensure that the level of animal suffering will remain very high.", Accessed July 22, 2009 Sunstein's views on animal rights generated controversy when Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) blocked his appointment to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs by Obama. Chambliss objected to the introduction of
Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions
', a volume edited by Sunstein and his then-companion Martha Nussbaum. O
page 11
of the introduction, during a philosophical discussion about whether animals should be thought of as owned by humans, Sunstein notes that personhood need not be conferred upon an animal in order to grant it various legal protections against abuse or cruelty, even including legal standing for suit. For example, under current law, if someone saw their neighbor beating a dog, they cannot sue for animal cruelty because they do not have legal standing to do so. Sunstein suggests that granting standing to animals, actionable by other parties, could decrease animal cruelty by increasing the likelihood that animal abuse will be punished.


Taxation

Sunstein has argued, "We should celebrate tax day." Sunstein argues that since government (in the form of police, fire departments, insured banks, and courts) protects and preserves property and liberty, individuals should happily finance it with their tax dollars:
In what sense is the money in our pockets and bank accounts fully 'ours'? Did we earn it by our own autonomous efforts? Could we have inherited it without the assistance of probate courts? Do we save it without the support of bank regulators? Could we spend it if there were no public officials to coordinate the efforts and pool the resources of the community in which we live? Without taxes, there would be no liberty. Without taxes there would be no property. Without taxes, few of us would have any assets worth defending. t isa dim fiction that some people enjoy and exercise their rights without placing any burden whatsoever on the public... There is no liberty without dependency.
Sunstein goes on to say:
If government could not intervene effectively, none of the individual rights to which Americans have become accustomed could be reliably protected.... This is why the overused distinction between "negative" and "positive" rights makes little sense. Rights to private property, freedom of speech, immunity from police abuse, contractual liberty, free exercise of religion – just as much as rights to Social Security, Medicare and food stamps – are taxpayer-funded and government-managed social services designed to improve collective and individual well-being.


Marriage

In ''Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness'', Sunstein proposes that government recognition of marriage be discontinued. "Under our proposal, the word marriage would no longer appear in any laws, and marriage licenses would no longer be offered or recognized by any level of government," argues Sunstein. He continues, "the only legal status states would confer on couples would be a civil union, which would be a domestic partnership agreement between any two people." He goes on further, "Governments would not be asked to endorse any particular relationships by conferring on them the term marriage," and refers to state-recognized marriage as an "official license scheme". Sunstein addressed the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
on July 11, 1996, advising against the Defense of Marriage Act.


"Conspiracy Theories" and government infiltration

Sunstein co-authored a 2008 paper with
Adrian Vermeule Cornelius Adrian Comstock Vermeule (, born May 2, 1968) is an American legal scholar who is currently the Ralph S. Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. He is best known for his contributions to constitutional law and admin ...
, titled "Conspiracy Theories", dealing with the risks and possible government responses to conspiracy theories resulting from "cascades" of faulty information within groups that may ultimately lead to violence. In this article they wrote, "The existence of both domestic and foreign conspiracy theories, we suggest, is no trivial matter, posing real risks to the government's antiterrorism policies, whatever the latter may be." They go on to propose that, "the best response consists in cognitive infiltration of extremist groups", where they suggest, among other tactics, "Government agents (and their allies) might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action." They refer, several times, to groups that promote the view that the US Government was responsible or complicit in the September 11 attacks as "extremist groups". The authors declare that there are five hypothetical responses a government can take toward conspiracy theories: "We can readily imagine a series of possible responses. (1) Government might ban conspiracy theorizing. (2) Government might impose some kind of tax, financial or otherwise, on those who disseminate such theories. (3) Government might itself engage in
counterspeech Counterspeech is a tactic of countering hate speech or misinformation by presenting an alternative narrative rather than with censorship of the offending speech. It also means responding to hate speech with empathy and challenging the hate narrat ...
, marshaling arguments to discredit conspiracy theories. (4) Government might formally hire credible private parties to engage in counterspeech. (5) Government might engage in informal communication with such parties, encouraging them to help." However, the authors advocate that each "instrument has a distinctive set of potential effects, or costs and benefits, and each will have a place under imaginable conditions. However, our main policy idea is that government should engage in cognitive infiltration of the groups that produce conspiracy theories, which involves a mix of (3), (4) and (5)." Sunstein and Vermeule also analyze the practice of recruiting "nongovernmental officials"; they suggest that "government can supply these independent experts with information and perhaps prod them into action from behind the scenes," further warning that "too close a connection will be self-defeating if it is exposed." Sunstein and Vermeule argue that the practice of enlisting non-government officials, "might ensure that credible independent experts offer the rebuttal, rather than government officials themselves. There is a tradeoff between credibility and control, however. The price of credibility is that government cannot be seen to control the independent experts." This position has been criticized by some commentators who argue that it would violate prohibitions on government propaganda aimed at domestic citizens. Sunstein and Vermeule's proposed infiltrations have also been met by sharply critical scholarly responses.


Star Wars

In 2016, Sunstein wrote of the Disney film franchise ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' that "''Star Wars'' is about freedom of choice and our never-ending ability to make the right decision when the chips are down," comparing the importance of the films to the Bible,
Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
, and
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
. The publication was reviewed in ''Time'' magazine, where it was described as "the ultimate primer for guiding a ''Star Wars'' padawan to the level of Jedi Knight." "''Star Wars''", he writes, "is a grain of sand; it contains a whole world." This, he argues, is evident even if one "can't tell an Ackbar from ..a Snoke." As he develops his thesis, he takes this argument further, arguing that the "hidden message and the real magic of ''Star Wars''" is "its rousing tribute to human freedom". In an interview with '' The A.V. Club'', Sunstein stated that he felt "over the moon about ''Star Wars''". The film franchise, in his view, "casts light not just on the saga of our time, but also on everything about our culture," and includes many "puzzles" for the curious. Despite his overall positive view of
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...
' oeuvre and the impact of the franchise on society, Sunstein had some criticism for the prequel films, and likened that to society at large: :The sky is always falling or the sky is always bright. In some ways, this is really morning in America and we don’t see it. People are living longer, the economy is doing pretty well. On the other hand, there are some ways of thinking in the current situation that make it look not so good, including our Star Wars prequels Sunstein compared ''Star Wars'' to his work for the Obama administration, saying that his approach to regulatory reform was very similar to Lucas' constrained approach to the movies as "episodes".


Personal life

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Sunstein was married to Lisa Ruddick, whom he met when both were undergraduates at Harvard. She is Associate Professor Emerita of English at the University of Chicago, specializing in British modernism. Their marriage ended in divorce. Their daughter Ellyn is a journalist and photographer. Thereafter, Sunstein dated
Martha Nussbaum Martha Craven Nussbaum (; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philosoph ...
for almost a decade. Nussbaum is a philosopher, classicist, and professor of law at the University of Chicago. On July 4, 2008, Sunstein married Samantha Power, a diplomat and government official who would serve as
United States Ambassador to the United Nations The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations ...
, whom he met when they both worked as campaign advisors to Barack Obama. The wedding took place in the Church of Mary Immaculate, in Lohar, Waterville, Ireland. They have two children: a son, Declan Power Sunstein (April 24, 2009). and a daughter, Rían Power Sunstein (June 1, 2012). Sunstein is an avid amateur squash player who has played against professionals in
PSA PSA, PsA, Psa, or psa may refer to: Biology and medicine * Posterior spinal artery * Primary systemic amyloidosis, a disease caused by the accumulation of abnormal proteins * Prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme used as a blood tracer for pros ...
tournaments and in 2017 was ranked 449th in the world by the
Professional Squash Association The Professional Squash Association (PSA) is the governing body for the men's and women's professional squash circuit. The body operates in a similar fashion to the ATP and the WTA for tennis. The PSA's highest professional level, the PSA Wor ...
.


Honors

In July 2017, Sunstein was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. In 2018 he was awarded the
Holberg Prize The Holberg Prize is an international prize awarded annually by the government of Norway to outstanding scholars for work in the arts, humanities, social sciences, law and theology, either within one of these fields or through interdisciplinary ...
for having "reshaped our understanding of the relationship between the modern regulatory state and constitutional law. He is widely regarded as the leading scholar of administrative law in the U.S., and he is by far the most cited legal scholar in the United States and probably the world."


Publications


Books

1990–1999 * * * * * * * * * 2000–2009 * * * * * * * * ::Translation: * * * (based on the Seeley Lectures 2004 at Cambridge University) ::Translation: * * * * * * * ::Translation: * * 2010 onwards * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Journal articles

* *


See also

*
Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates President Barack Obama made two successful appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States. The first was Judge Sonia SotomayorMark SilvaSonia Sotomayor is Obama's Supreme Court nominee ''Los Angeles Times'' (May 26, 2009). to fill the va ...
* Choice architecture *
List of animal rights advocates Advocates of animal rights support the philosophy of animal rights. They believe that many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as in avoiding suff ...
* List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 10) *
List of U.S. executive branch 'czars' In the United States, the informal political term "czar" or "tsar" is employed in media and popular usage to refer to high-level officials who oversee a particular policy. There have never been any U.S. government offices with the title "czar", b ...


References


External links


It's All Cass Sunstein's Default
a 2017 ''
strategy+business Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
'' magazine "creative mind" profile. *
Sunstein's Faculty Page

CPAT Articles
* *
Sunstein's articles for ''The New Republic''


at the Carnegie Council
Sunstein on Wikipedia



Sunstein blogging at Oxford University Press
*
Video Interview/Discussion from June 2008
with Eugene Volokh on Bloggingheads.tv
Video debate with Sunstein
and
Henry Farrell Henry Farrell (September 27, 1920 – March 29, 2006) was an American novelist and screenwriter, best known as the author of the renowned gothic horror story '' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'', which was made into a film starring Bette ...
on Bloggingheads.tv
"Catching up with Cass"
interview in the '' Harvard Law Record''
Report on Sunstein's Harvard Law chair lecture
reported in the '' Harvard Law Record''
Green nudges: An interview with Obama regulatory czar Cass Sunstein
interview on
Grist.org ''Grist'' (originally ''Grist Magazine''; also referred to as Grist.org) is an American non-profit online magazine founded in 1999 that publishes environmental news and commentary. ''Grists tagline is "Climate. Justice. Solutions." ''Grist'' ...

Sunstein author page and article archive
from '' The New York Review of Books'' * Podcast of lecture, 200
"If the Public Would Be Outraged by Their Rulings, Should Judges Care?" lecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunstein, Cass 1954 births Administrators of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs American animal rights scholars American bloggers American legal scholars American legal writers American political writers American male non-fiction writers Critics of conspiracy theories Intellectual property law scholars Jewish American writers The Harvard Lampoon alumni Harvard Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Living people People from Concord, Massachusetts Scholars of constitutional law University of Chicago faculty Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Middlesex School alumni 21st-century American non-fiction writers Harvard College alumni American male bloggers Nudge theory Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 21st-century American Jews