Akhil 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 (later Justice) Stephen Breyer, Amar joined the Yale faculty in 1985 at the age of 26. He is Yale’s only living professor to have won the University’s unofficial triple crown—the Sterling Chair for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service.

Amar’s work has won awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, and he has been cited by Supreme Court justices across the spectrum in over four dozen cases—tops among living non-emeritus scholars. He regularly testifies before Congress at the invitation of both parties; and in surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he typically ranks among America’s five most-cited mid-career legal scholars. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has written widely for popular publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The National Review, The New Republic, Time, Slate, and The Atlantic. He was an informal consultant to the popular TV show, "The West Wing," and his scholarship has been showcased on many broadcasts, including "The Colbert Report," "Tucker Carlson Tonight," "Morning Joe," "AC360," "11th Hour with Brian Williams," "Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream," "Fareed Zakaria GPS," "Erin Burnett Outfront," and "Constitution USA with Peter Sagal."

He is the author of more than a hundred law review articles and several books, most notably "The Bill of Rights" (1998—winner of the Yale University Press Governors’ Award), "America’s Constitution" (2005—winner of the ABA’s Silver Gavel Award), "America’s Unwritten Constitution" (2012—named one of the year’s 100 best nonfiction books by The Washington Post), and "The Constitution Today" (2016—named one of the year’s top ten nonfiction books by Time magazine). His latest and most ambitious book, "The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation," 1760-1840, came out in May, 2021. He has recently launched a free weekly podcast, "Amarica’s Constitution."