Akhil Reed Amar

Akhil Reed Amar (born September 6, 1958) is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in constitutional law. He holds the position of 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.

Raised in California, Amar was an undergraduate in Yale College before receiving his legal education at Yale Law School. He clerked for Judge (later Justice) Stephen Breyer then became a professor at Yale Law School at the age of 26. He is one of the most frequently-cited legal scholars by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Amar has been active in the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, with his work receiving awards from both organizations. In 2008, a Legal Affairs poll placed him among the top 20 contemporary American legal thinkers. According to a 2021 study by Fred R. Shapiro, Amar is the 18th most-cited legal scholar of all-time.

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 medical students from India who met as students at the University of Michigan. His father became a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

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. As a student, he was a member of the Yale Debate Association, winning its Thacher Memorial Prize, and was a chair 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.

In 1980, Amar graduated from Yale 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, and chose to stay at the university instead of returning to California as he originally planned.

In 1981, Amar entered Yale Law School, where he became an editor of the Yale Law Journal. His teachers included Charles Black, Bruce Ackerman, Owen Fiss, Guido Calabresi, and Burke Marshall. In 1984, Amar obtained his Juris Doctor degree. He was a law clerk for Judge Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1984 to 1985. He then interviewed for a clerkship with Justice John Paul Stevens but did not receive an offer.

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 a student of Amar.

He is the author of publications and books, including The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840. Justices across the spectrum on the Supreme Court have cited his work in more than four dozen cases—the most among living non-emeritus scholars. In surveys of judicial citations and/or scholarly citations, he typically ranks among America’s five most-cited mid-career legal scholars.

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.

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 fellow Yale alumnus, Andy Lipka. Guests have included Bob Woodward, Floyd Abrams, and Gary Hart.

Personal life
Amar and his wife, Vinita Parkash, married in 1989. He has three children: Vikram, Kara, and Sara. He is politically a pro-choice Democrat.

Books

 * The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles (1997) ISBN 0-300-06678-3
 * For the People (with Alan Hirsch) (1997) ISBN 0-684-87102-5
 * The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction (1998) ISBN 0-300-07379-8
 * Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking (ed. with Paul Brest, Sanford Levinson, and Jack M. Balkin), (2000) ISBN 0-7355-5062-X
 * America's Constitution: A Biography (2005) ISBN 1-4000-6262-4
 * America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By (2012) ISBN 978-0-465-02957-0
 * The Bill of Rights Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the American Bill of Rights (with Les Adams) (2013) ISBN 978-1-62087-572-8
 * The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic (2015) ISBN 978-0-465-06590-5
 * The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era (2016) ISBN 978-0-465-09633-6
 * The Words that Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840 (2021) ISBN 978-0-465-09635-0