Akhil Reed Amar

Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School. After graduating from Yale College, summa cum laude, in 1980 and from Yale Law School in 1984, and clerking for then Judge (now Justice) Stephen Breyer, Amar joined the Yale faculty in 1985 at the age of 26. His work has won awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, and he has been favorably cited by Supreme Court justices across the spectrum in more than 30 cases—tops in his generation. In various comprehensive surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he invariably ranks among America’s five most-cited legal scholars under age sixty. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2008 he received the DeVane Medal—Yale’s highest award for teaching excellence. He has written widely for popular publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and Slate. He was an informal consultant to the popular TV show The West Wing, and his work has been showcased on more recent TV shows such as The Colbert Report, Charlie Rose, and The MHP Show. Professor Amar is the author of dozens of law review articles and several books, including The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction (Yale Univ. Press, 1998), America’s Constitution: A Biography (Random House, 2005), America’s Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By (Basic Books, 2012), and The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of our Constitutional Republic (Basic Books, 2015). His newest book is The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era (Basic Books, 2016).

AMERICA'S CONSTITUTION: A Biography (Random House, 2005)

AMERICA'S UNWRITTEN CONSTITUTION: The Precedents and Principles We Live By (Basic Books, 2012)

THE CONSTITUTION TODAY: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era (Basic Books, 2016)

THE LAW OF THE LAND: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic (Basic Books, 2015)

THE WORDS THAT MADE US: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760–1840 (Basic Books, 2021)