Martha Minow
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Martha Louise Minow (born December 6, 1954) is an American legal scholar and the 300th Anniversary University Professor at
Harvard University 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 ...
. She served as the Dean of
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 ...
between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law School since 1981. Minow was one of the candidates mentioned to replace U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice
John Paul Stevens John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...
upon his retirement. She has been called "one of the world's leading human rights scholars" and "one of the world's leading figures in bringing legal ideas and scholarship to bear on issues of identity, race and equality, including innovative approaches to reconciliation among divided peoples."


Biography

Minow is the daughter of former
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
chairman Newton Minow, and his wife, Josephine (Baskin) Minow. Minow is
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. She graduated from
New Trier Township High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school, with its main campus for sophomores through seniors located in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, and a campus in Northfield, Illinoi ...
in Illinois in 1972. Minow received her undergraduate degree from the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
(1975), her master's degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (1976), and her
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 ...
(J.D.) degree 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 ...
(1979), where she was an editor of 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 ...
''. After graduating from law school, Minow clerked for Judge David L. Bazelon of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then for
Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
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
United States 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 ...
. She joined the Harvard Law faculty as an assistant professor in 1981, was promoted to professor in 1986, was named the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of Law in 2003, and became the Jeremiah Smith Jr., Professor of Law in 2005. Minow became Dean of Harvard Law School July 1, 2009. She is also a lecturer in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. On June 30, 2017, Minow stepped down from her post as Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law. From 2017 to 2018, she served as Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence.Dean Martha Minow: Biography
/ref> In 2018, she assumed her current position as the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University.


Works, honors, and recognition

Minow served on the
Independent International Commission on Kosovo Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...
and helped to launch Imagine Co-existence, a program of the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integratio ...
, to promote peaceful development in post-conflict societies. Her five-year partnership with the federal
Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
and the Center for Applied Special Technology worked to increase access to the curriculum for students with disabilities and resulted in both legislative initiatives and a voluntary national standard opening access to curricular materials for individuals with disabilities. She has worked on the Divided Cities initiative which is building an alliance of global cities dealing with ethnic, religious, or political divisions. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, then- Senator Obama said, "When I was at Harvard Law School I had a teacher who changed my life -- Martha Minow." In August 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Dean Minow to the board of the
Legal Services Corporation The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a publicly funded, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established by the United States Congress. It seeks to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing funding for civil legal ...
, a bi-partisan, government-sponsored organization that provides civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. The
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
confirmed her appointment on March 19, 2010, and she now serves as Vice-Chair and co-chair of its Pro Bono Task Force. In 2019 she was awarded the
Leo Baeck Medal The Leo Baeck Medal has been awarded since 1978 by the Leo Baeck Institute of New York City, an international research institute devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. It is the highest recognition the Institute b ...
. She is a former member of the board of the
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a national legal-advocacy organization representing people with mental disabilities in the United States. Originally known as The Mental Health Law Project, the Center was founded as a national public-in ...
, the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center, and former chair of the Scholar's Board of Facing History and Ourselves. A fellow of the
American Academy of Arts & 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, and ...
since 1992, Minow has also been a senior fellow of Harvard's Society of Fellows, a member of
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
Board of Syndics, a senior fellow and twice acting director of what is now Harvard's Safra Foundation Center on Ethics, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. She has delivered more than 70 named or endowed lectures and key-note addresses. In 2020, Minow spoke with the podcast '' Criminal'' in their episode, "Learning How to Forgive."


Selected works

* When Should Law Forgive?, Norton (September 2019, ). *
The First Global Prosecutor: Promise and Constraints
'' with C. Cora True-Frost and Alex Whiting, editors. (University of Michigan Press, 2015, ). * ''In Brown's Wake: Legacies of America's Constitutional Landmark''. (Oxford University Press, 2010) * ''Government by Contract: Outsourcing and American Democracy''. (Jody Freeman & Martha L. Minow eds., Harvard University Press, 2009) * ''Just Schools: Pursuing Equality in Societies of Difference''. (Martha Minow, Richard A. Shweder, and Hazel Markus, Editors; Russell Sage Foundation, 2008) * "Living Up to Rules: Holding Soldiers Responsible for Abusive Conduct and the Dilemma of the Superior Orders Defence". 52 ''McGill Law Journal'' 1 (2007) * "Tolerance in an Age of Terror". 16 ''University of Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal'' 453 (2007) * "Should Religious Groups Ever Be Exempt From Civil Rights Laws?" 48 ''Boston College Law Review'' 781 (2007) * "Outsourcing Power: How Privatizing Military Efforts Challenges Accountability, Professionalism, and ''Democracy". 46 Boston College Law Review'' 989 (2005) * ''Partners, Not Rivals: Privatization and the Public Good''. (2002) * ''Engaging Cultural Differences''. (ed. with
Richard Shweder Richard Allan Shweder (born 1945) is an American cultural anthropologist and a figure in cultural psychology. He is currently Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Human Development in the Department of Comparative Human Development a ...
and Hazel Markus, 2002) * ''Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence''. (1998) * ''Not Only For Myself: Identity, Politics, and Law''. (1997) * ''Making All the Difference: Inclusion, Exclusion, and American Law''. (1990) * "Law Turning Outward". ''Telos'', 73 (Fall 1987)


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 ...
*
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 10) Law clerks have assisted the justices of the United States Supreme Court in various capacities since the first one was hired by Justice Horace Gray in 1882. Each justice is permitted to have between three and four law clerks per Court term. Mos ...
*
Leslie Moonves Leslie Roy Moonves (; born October 6, 1949) is an American media executive who was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2003 until his resignation in September 2018 following numerous allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and ...
*
Jim Lanzone James Lanzone (born January 20, 1971) is an American businessman and the CEO of Yahoo Inc. Previously, he was CEO of Tinder. He is also the former president and CEO of CBS Interactive, a top 10 Internet property that operated key websites includi ...
* Joseph Ianniello *
Elena Kagan Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 10, 2010, and has served since August 7, 2010. Kagan ...
*
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 ...


References


External links


Martha Minow faculty page at Harvard Law SchoolHarvard's Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minow, Martha 1954 births 20th-century American Jews American legal scholars American women lawyers Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Harvard Law School faculty International law scholars Deans of law schools in the United States Women deans (academic) Living people New Trier High School alumni People from Highland Park, Illinois American scholars of constitutional law University of Michigan alumni Yale Law School alumni Deans of Harvard Law School Women legal scholars Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellows of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Members of the American Philosophical Society 21st-century American Jews