Richard Posner

Richard Posner
Posner speaking at the Federalist Society of Harvard Law School, 2017
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
In office
August 1, 1993 – August 1, 2000
Preceded byWilliam J. Bauer
Succeeded byJoel Flaum
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
In office
December 1, 1981 – September 2, 2017
Appointed byRonald Reagan
Preceded byPhilip Willis Tone
Succeeded byMichael Y. Scudder
Personal details
Born
Richard Allen Posner

(1939-01-11) January 11, 1939 (age 85)
New York City, U.S.
SpouseCharlene Horn
Children2, including Eric
EducationYale University (BA)
Harvard University (LLB)
AwardsHenry J. Friendly Medal (2005)

Richard Allen Posner (/ˈpoʊznər/; born January 11, 1939) is an American legal scholar and retired federal judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017.[1] A senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, Posner was identified by The Journal of Legal Studies as the most-cited legal scholar of the 20th century.[2] As of 2021, he is also the most-cited legal scholar of all time.[3] He is widely considered to be one of the most influential legal scholars in the United States.[4][5][6][7][8]

Posner is known for his scholarly range and for writing on topics outside of law. In his various writings and books, he has addressed animal rights, feminism, drug prohibition, same-sex marriage, Keynesian economics, law and literature, and academic moral philosophy, among other subjects.

Posner is the author of nearly 40 books on jurisprudence, economics, and several other topics, including Economic Analysis of Law, The Economics of Justice, The Problems of Jurisprudence, Sex and Reason, Law, Pragmatism and Democracy, and The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy. Posner has generally been identified as being politically conservative; in recent years, however, he has distanced himself from the positions of the Republican Party,[9] authoring more liberal rulings involving same-sex marriage and abortion.[10][11] In A Failure of Capitalism, he writes that the 2007–2008 financial crisis caused him to question the rational-choice, laissez-faire economic model that lies at the heart of his law and economics theory.

  1. ^ Meisner, Jason (September 1, 2017). "Richard Posner announces sudden retirement from federal appeals court in Chicago". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  2. ^ Shapiro, Fred R. (2000). "The Most-Cited Legal Scholars". Journal of Legal Studies. 29 (1): 409–426. doi:10.1086/468080. S2CID 143676627.
  3. ^ Shapiro, Fred R. (2021). "The Most-Cited Legal Scholars Revisited". uchicago.edu.
  4. ^ Witt, John Fabian (October 7, 2016). "The Provocative Life of Judge Richard Posner". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  5. ^ "The judicial philosophy of Richard Posner". The Economist. September 9, 2017. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  6. ^ "Judge Richard Posner explains why we should "burn all copies of the Bluebook"". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ "Swan Song of a Great Colossus: The Latest from Richard Posner". Law & Liberty. May 13, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  8. ^ Schaper, David (September 2017). "Federal Judge Richard Posner, A Leading Legal Voice, Retiring From Bench". NPR. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  9. ^ Warren, James (July 14, 2012). "Richard Posner Bashes Supreme Court's Citizens United Ruling". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  10. ^ Farias, Christian. "Judge Appointed by Ronald Reagan Strikes Down Wisconsin Abortion Law". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
  11. ^ Bell, Kyle. "Appeals Court Rules Indiana and Wisconsin Gay Marriage Bans Unconstitutional". South Bend Voice. Retrieved September 4, 2014.