Akhil Reed Amar
Akhil Reed Amar is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in U.S. constitutional law. He is a Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he is a leading scholar of originalism, the U.S. Bill of Rights, and criminal procedure.
Born in Michigan and raised in California, Amar was an undergraduate at Yale College before receiving his legal education at Yale Law School. He clerked for Judge Stephen Breyer and then became a junior professor at Yale Law School at the age of 26. He is Yale's only living professor to have received the University's unofficial triple crown: the title of Sterling Professor for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service.
Amar is an affiliate of the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, with his work receiving awards from both organizations. His work has been cited in more than fifty U.S. Supreme Court cases by justices appointed by both parties. According to a 2021 study of lifetime scholarly citations by Fred R. Shapiro, Amar is the second most-cited American legal scholar still under age 70.
Early life and education
Amar was born on September 6, 1958, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has two brothers, one of whom is Vikram Amar, who is also a legal scholar and was the dean of the University of Illinois College of Law. His parents were young physicians from India who met at the University of Michigan. His father became a professor at the University of California, San Francisco. His middle name comes from his father's mentor, Reed M. Nesbit.Amar grew up in Walnut Creek, California, and graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1976. He then attended Yale University, where he double majored in history and economics. He was a member of the Yale Debate Association, winning its Thacher Memorial Prize, and was chair of the Liberal Party of the Yale Political Union. He befriended future journalist Richard Brookhiser in his first year in college, and graduated as a resident of Ezra Stiles College. Amar graduated from Yale in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, with membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He had developed a serious interest in history studying under professors Edmund Morgan and John Morton Blum.
In 1981, Amar entered Yale Law School, where he was an editor of The Yale Law Journal and had Robert Bork as a teacher. He graduated in 1984 with a Juris Doctor degree. After law school, Amar was a law clerk for then-judge Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1984 to 1985.
Academic career
Amar joined the faculty of Yale Law School in 1985 as an assistant professor, then became an associate professor in 1988 and a full professor in 1990. From 1993 to 2008, he was the law school's Southmayd Professor of Law. He received the school's appointment as a Sterling Professor of Law in 2008. Amar's former students include four U.S. senators—Cory Booker, Michael Bennet, Chris Coons, and Josh Hawley—and government officials Jake Sullivan and Neal Katyal. Justice Brett Kavanaugh was also briefly a student of Amar.He is the author of more than a hundred law review articles and many books, including The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840 and its sequel Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840-1920. His nonfiction books have collectively earned two starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and three starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews.
He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007. In 2008, U.S. presidential candidate Mike Gravel said that he would name Amar to the Supreme Court if elected president.
He was awarded the prestigious Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement by the American Academy of Sciences and Letters in 2024.
Amar, a self-described liberal, has since engaged in advocacy considered controversial among progressive outlets, bloggers, and professors. He argued in favor of Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court and argued that overturning Roe v. Wade would not affect other privacy rights.
Since early 2021 he has co-hosted a weekly podcast, Amarica’s Constitution with a fellow Yale alumnus, Andy Lipka. Guests have included Stephen Breyer, Bob Woodward, Kate A. Shaw, Linda Greenhouse, and Gary Hart.
Personal life
Amar and his wife, Vinita Parkash, married in 1989. He is politically a pro-choice Democrat.Selected works
Books
The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles For the People The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking America's Constitution: A Biography America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By The Bill of Rights Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the American Bill of Rights The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era The Words that Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840- ''Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840-1920''