Michael Klarman


Michael J. Klarman is an American legal historian and scholar of constitutional law. Currently, Klarman is the Kirkland & Ellis Professor at Harvard Law School. Formerly, he was James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law, Professor of History, and Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Research Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Early life and education

Klarman grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, in a Jewish family. His father, Herbert E. Klarman, was a public health economist. He is the brother of investor Seth Klarman.
Klarman holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a D.Phil. from Oxford University and an M.A. and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. His dissertation was titled "The Osborne Judgment: A Legal/Historical Analysis". After his graduation from law school, he clerked for then-Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she was on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Scholarship

Klarman specializes in the constitutional history of race. He contends that the Supreme Court of the United States has historically been hostile to the rights of minorities and has not consistently enforced constitutional protections for them. Klarman argues that civil rights protections arise out of social mores from which the court takes its cue.
Klarman has also defended political process theory as a method of constitutional interpretation.

Awards

  • 2005 Bancroft Prize

    Works

  • Discussion between Klarman and Michael W. McConnell regarding Brown v. Board of Education