American legal scholar
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 adjunct professor of law at Columbia University.[1] In 2008, a Legal Affairs poll placed Amar among the top 20 contemporary American legal thinkers.[2]
Early life and education
Amar was born in 1958 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His parents were medical students from India studying at the University of Michigan, and they later became U.S. citizens.[3] Amar's father became a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.[4] Amar has two brothers, one of which is Vikram Amar, who is also a legal scholar and was the dean of the University of Illinois College of Law.[5]
Amar grew up in Walnut Creek, California, graduating in 1976 from Las Lomas High School.[6] He then attended Yale University, where he double majored in history and economics. He was a member of the Yale Debate Association and won its Thacher Memorial Prize, as well as Yale's Louis Laun Award for excellence in economics. Amar graduated from Yale in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude. He then attended Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and graduated in 1984 with a Juris Doctor.
After law school, Amar was a law clerk for U.S. circuit judge (and future Supreme Court justice) Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1984 to 1985. He then interviewed for a clerkship with Justice John Paul Stevens but did not receive an offer.
Academic career
In 1985, Amar joined the faculty of the Yale Law School, where he has remained ever since. He is the author of publications and books, including The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840. Justices across the spectrum on the Supreme Court have cited his work in more than four dozen cases—the most among living non-emeritus scholars. In surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he typically ranks among America’s five most-cited mid-career legal scholars.[citation needed]
Amar was a consultant to the television show The West Wing, on which the character Josh Lyman refers to him in an episode in Season 5.[7]
Amar has repeatedly served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Pepperdine School of Law and at Columbia Law School and was recently a visiting professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also lectured for One Day University. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.[8]
In 2008, U.S. presidential candidate Mike Gravel said that he would name Amar to the Supreme Court if elected president.[9]
Amar, a self-described liberal, has since engaged in advocacy considered controversial among progressive outlets, bloggers, and professors.[10][11][12] He argued in favor of Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Court[13] and argued that overturning Roe v. Wade would not affect other privacy rights.[14]
Since early 2021 he has co-hosted a weekly podcast, Amarica’s Constitution, with a fellow Yale alumnus, Andy Lipka. Guests have included Bob Woodward,[15] Floyd Abrams,[16] and Gary Hart.[17]
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