HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American
jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...
and legal scholar who served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the
University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
, Posner is a leading figure in the field of
law and economics Law and economics, or economic analysis of law, is the application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of law, which emerged primarily from scholars of the Chicago school of economics. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of law ...
, and was identified by ''
The Journal of Legal Studies ''The Journal of Legal Studies'' is a law journal published by the University of Chicago Press focusing on interdisciplinary academic research in law and legal institutions. It emphasizes social science approaches, especially those of economics, ...
'' as the most-cited legal scholar of the 20th century. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential legal scholars in the United States. Posner is known for his scholarly range and for writing on topics outside of his primary field, law. In his various writings and books, he has addressed
animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the s ...
,
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
,
drug prohibition The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...
,
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
,
Keynesian economics Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output ...
, 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; however, in recent years he has distanced himself from the positions of the Republican party, authoring more
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
rulings involving same-sex marriage and
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
. In '' A Failure of Capitalism'', he has written that the 2008 financial crisis has caused him to question the rational-choice, ''
laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...
'' economic model that lies at the heart of his law and economics theory.


Early life and education

Richard Posner was born on January 11, 1939, in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. His father's family were of
Romanian Jewish The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...
descent, and his mother's family were
Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
from Galicia in the Austrian Empire. After high school, Posner studied
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, graduating in 1959 with an A.B. degree ''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' and membership in
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
. He then attended
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...
, where he was president of the ''
Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...
''. He graduated in 1962 ranked first in his class with an
LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
''magna cum laude''.


Legal career

After law school, Posner clerked for Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 to 1963. He then served as an attorney-advisor to Commissioner Philip Elman of the
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction o ...
(FTC); he would later argue that the FTC ought to be abolished. Posner went on to work in the Office of the Solicitor General in the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
, under Solicitor General
Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
. In 1968, Posner accepted a position teaching at
Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...
. In 1969, Posner moved to the faculty of the
University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
, where he remains a senior lecturer. He was a founding editor of ''
The Journal of Legal Studies ''The Journal of Legal Studies'' is a law journal published by the University of Chicago Press focusing on interdisciplinary academic research in law and legal institutions. It emphasizes social science approaches, especially those of economics, ...
'' in 1972. On October 27, 1981, Posner was nominated by President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
to a seat on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts: * Central District of Illinois * Northern District of ...
vacated by Judge Philip Willis Tone. Posner was confirmed by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
on November 24, 1981, and received his commission on December 1, 1981. He served as
Chief Judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...
of that court from 1993 to 2000 but remained a part-time professor at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. Judge Posner retired from the federal bench on September 2, 2017. Posner stated that he had originally planned to retire at the age of 80, but instead retired at 78 due to disputes with other judges on the Seventh Circuit over treatment of
pro se ''Pro se'' legal representation ( or ) comes from Latin ''pro se'', meaning "for oneself" or "on behalf of themselves" which, in modern law, means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases, ...
litigants. Posner is a pragmatist in
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
and an
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
in legal methodology. He has written many articles and books on a wide range of topics including law and economics, law and literature, the federal judiciary,
moral theory Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
,
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
,
antitrust law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
, public intellectuals, and
legal history Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and histo ...
. He is also well known for writing on a wide variety of current events including the 2000 presidential election recount controversy,
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
's affair with Monica Lewinsky and his resulting impeachment procedure, and the
2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
. His analysis of the
Lewinsky scandal Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercus ...
cut across most party and ideological divisions. Posner's greatest influence is through his writings on law and economics; ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called him "one of the most important
antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
scholars of the past half-century." In December 2004, Posner started a joint
blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...
with
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
-winning economist
Gary Becker Gary Stanley Becker (; December 2, 1930 – May 3, 2014) was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of ...
, titled simply "The Becker-Posner Blog". Both men contributed to the blog until shortly before Becker's death in May 2014, after which Posner announced that the blog was being discontinued. He also had a blog at ''The Atlantic'', where he discussed the then-current
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
. Posner was mentioned in 2005 as a potential nominee to replace
Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
because of his prominence as a scholar and an appellate judge. Robert S. Boynton wrote in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' that he believed Posner would never sit on the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
because despite his "obvious brilliance," he would be criticized for his occasionally "outrageous conclusions," such as his contention "that the
rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannic ...
is an accidental and dispensable element of legal ideology," his argument that buying and selling children on the
free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
would lead to better outcomes than the present situation, government-regulated
adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...
, and his support for the legalization of
marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...
and
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
.Boynton, Robert S. Boynton
"'Sounding Off,' a review of Richard Posner's ''Public Intellectuals''"
''The Washington Post Book World'', January 20, 2002.
Posner on Posner Series Judge Posner was the focus of a "series" of posts (many Q&A interviews with the Judge) done by University of Washington Law Professor
Ronald K. L. Collins Ronald Kenneth Leo Collins (born July 31, 1949) is the co-founder and co-director of the History Book Festival and co-founder and co-chair of the First Amendment Salons. He served as a law clerk to Justice Hans Linde on the Oregon Supreme Court ...
. The twelve posts—collectively titled "Posner on Posner"—began on November 24, 2014, and ended on January 5, 2015, and appeared on the Concurring Opinions blog.


Legal and philosophical positions

In Posner's youth and in the 1960s as law clerk to William J. Brennan, he was generally counted as a
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
. However, in reaction to some of the perceived excesses of the late 1960s, Posner developed a strongly
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
bent. He encountered Chicago School economists
Aaron Director Aaron Director (; September 21, 1901 – September 11, 2004) was a Russian-born American economist and academic who played a central role in the development of the field Law and Economics and the Chicago school of economics. Director was a profe ...
and
George Stigler George Joseph Stigler (; January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991) was an American economist. He was the 1982 laureate in Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and is considered a key leader of the Chicago school of economics. Early life and e ...
while a professor at
Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...
. Posner summarized his views on law and economics in his 1973 book ''The Economic Analysis of Law''. Today, although generally viewed as to the right in academia, Posner's
pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...
, his qualified
moral relativism Moral relativism or ethical relativism (often reformulated as relativist ethics or relativist morality) is used to describe several philosophical positions concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different peoples and cultures. ...
and
moral skepticism Moral skepticism (or moral scepticism in British English) is a class of meta-ethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge. Many moral skeptics also make the stronger, modal claim that moral knowledge is im ...
, and his affection for the thought of
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
set him apart from most American conservatives. As a judge, with the exception of his rulings with respect to the sentencing guidelines and the recording of police actions, Posner's judicial votes have always placed him on the moderate-to-liberal wing of the Republican Party, where he has become more isolated over time. In July 2012, Posner stated, "I've become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy." Among Posner's judicial influences are the American jurists Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and
Learned Hand Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 an ...
; he has written that "Holmes is the greatest jurist ... because the sum of his ideas, metaphors, decisions, dissents and other contributions exceeds the sum of contributions of any other jurist of modern times", and he has applied the Hand formula in a number of his opinions. In June 2016, Posner was criticized by right-wing media organizations for a column he wrote for ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' in which he stated, "I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, day, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation." He has called his approach to judging pragmatic. "I pay very little attention to legal rules, statutes, constitutional provisions. ... A case is just a dispute. The first thing you do is ask yourself—forget about the law—what is a sensible resolution of this dispute? The next thing ... is to see if a recent Supreme Court precedent or some other legal obstacle stood in the way of ruling in favor of that sensible resolution. And the answer is that's actually rarely the case. When you have a Supreme Court case or something similar, they're often extremely easy to get around."


Abortion

Posner has written several opinions sympathetic to
abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...
, including a decision that held that late term abortion was constitutionally protected in some circumstances. In November 2015, Posner authored a decision in ''Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin v. Schimel'' striking down regulations on abortion clinics in Wisconsin. He rejected the state's argument that the laws were written to protect the health of women and not to make abortion more difficult to obtain. Accusing the state of indirectly trying to ban abortions in the state Posner wrote, "They isconsinmay do this in the name of protecting the health of women who have abortions, yet as in this case the specific measures they support may do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion."


Animal rights

Posner rejects an ethic of strong animal rights on pragmatic grounds (where such an ethic posits the moral irrelevance of species membership). He recognizes the philosophical force of arguments for strong animal rights, but maintains that human intuition about the paramount value of human life makes it impossible to accommodate an ethic of strong animal rights. Posner, a self-avowed moral anti-realist, does not present his critique of strong animal rights as a deductive proof. Instead, he highlights the practical importance of intuition and emotion over abstract argument. In a 2000 ''
Yale Law Journal The ''Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ), known also as the ''Yale Law Review'', is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students ...
'' book review on the title "Rattling the Cage" by
Steven M. Wise Steven M. Wise (born 1952) is an American legal scholar who specializes in animal protection issues, primatology, and animal intelligence. He teaches animal rights law at Harvard Law School, Vermont Law School, John Marshall Law School, Lewis & ...
, Posner again criticized the legal notion of animal rights. In the review, Posner argues that Wise's approach, using the cognitive ability of animals compared to that of very young normal human beings as a basis for rights-worthiness, is arbitrary and in contrast with major traditional and contemporary philosophies (including the theology of
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino, Italy, Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest who was an influential List of Catholic philo ...
for one and
utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different chara ...
for another). In addition, he points out that this basis for rights has problematic implications—including that it might soon make some computers more worthy of rights than some humans, a conclusion he calls absurd. Posner goes on to reason that granting human-like rights to animals is fraught with implications which could radically disrupt or devalue the rights of human beings. He alludes to Hitler's zoophilia as evidence that respect for animals and humaneness toward human beings are not necessarily associated. Arguing that the analogy of animal rights to the civil rights movement lacks imagination and is not very apt, Posner posits that animal welfare might be better protected by other legal models, one example of which would be stronger laws making animals property, since, he asserts, people tend to protect what they own. Posner engaged in a debate with the philosopher
Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular ...
in 2001 at ''
Slate magazine ''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former '' New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 2 ...
.'' He agrees that "gratuitous cruelty to and neglect of animals is wrong and that some costs should be incurred to reduce the suffering of animals raised for food or other human purposes or subjected to medical or other testing and experimentation," but rejects grounding this view in an ethic of strong animal rights, contending that such a premise entails conclusions inconsistent with the reality of human society and psychology. He further states that people whose opinions were changed by consideration of the philosophical arguments presented in Singer's book '' Animal Liberation'' failed to see the "radicalism of the ethical vision that powers
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offic ...
view on animals, an ethical vision that finds greater value in a healthy pig than in a profoundly retarded child, that commands inflicting a lesser pain on a human being to avert a greater pain to a dog, and that, provided only that a chimpanzee has 1 percent of the mental ability of a normal human being, would require the sacrifice of the human being to save 101 chimpanzees." Posner emphasizes the importance of facts over arguments in creating social change. He states that his moral intuition says that "it is wrong to give as much weight to a dog's pain as to an infant's pain," and that " hisis a moral intuition deeper than any reason that could be given for it and impervious to any reason that you or anyone could give against it." Instead, Posner claims that " xpanding and invigoratingthe laws that protect animals will require not philosophical arguments for reducing human beings to the level of the other animals but facts, facts that will stimulate a greater empathetic response to animal suffering and facts that will alleviate concern about the human costs of further measures to reduce animal suffering."


Antitrust

Along with
Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American jurist who served as the solicitor general of the United States from 1973 to 1977. A professor at Yale Law School by occupation, he later served as a judge on the U.S. Cour ...
, Posner helped shape the antitrust policy changes of the 1970s through his idea that 1960s antitrust laws were in fact making prices higher for the consumer rather than lower, while he viewed lower prices as the essential end goal of any antitrust policy. Posner's and Bork's theories on antitrust evolved into the prevailing view in academia and at the Justice Department in the George H. W. Bush Administration; they have remained the consensus view in both the Justice Department and among legal academics of antitrust.


''The Bluebook''

'' The Bluebook'' is the style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. Posner is "one of the founding fathers of ''Bluebook'' abolitionism, having advocated it for almost twenty-five years, ever since his 1986 '' University of Chicago Law Review'' article on the subject."Somin, Ilya (2011-01-25
Richard Posner on the Bluebook
'' Volokh Conspiracy''
In a 2011 ''
Yale Law Journal The ''Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ), known also as the ''Yale Law Review'', is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students ...
'' article, he wrote:
''The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'' exemplifies hypertrophy in the anthropological sense. It is a monstrous growth, remote from the functional need for legal citation forms, that serves obscure needs of the legal culture and its student subculture.
He describes those needs as unrelated to practical legal activity but instead as social and political. In the same article, Posner gives an excerpt of the entire citation style guide included (as an appendix) in the short manual he gives his own law clerks (whom he describes as "very smart"); the appendix is about 2–3 pages long, and he says the entire manual is about 1% as long as the Bluebook.


Drugs

Posner opposes the U.S. "
War on Drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, 1 ...
" and called it "
quixotic Quixotic may refer to: * Quixotism, deriving from the novel ''Don Quixote'' * ''Quixotic'' (album), an album by Martina Topley-Bird * Quix*o*tic Quix*o*tic was a rock band active from 1997 to 2002 in the area of Washington, D.C., United States. T ...
". In a 2003
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...
interview he discussed the difficulty of enforcing criminal
marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...
laws, and asserted that it is hard to justify the criminalization of marijuana when compared to other substances. In a talk at
Elmhurst College Elmhurst University is a private university in Elmhurst, Illinois. It has a tradition of service-oriented learning and an affiliation with the United Church of Christ. The university changed its name from Elmhurst College on July 1, 2020. Hist ...
in 2012, Posner said that "I don't think that we should have a fraction of the drug laws that we have. I think it's really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana."


National security

At the ''Cybercrime 2020: The Future of Online Crime and Investigations'' conference held at
Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...
on November 20, 2014, Posner, in addition to further reinforcing his views on privacy being over-rated, stated that "If the NSA wants to vacuum all the trillions of bits of information that are crawling through the electronic worldwide networks, I think that's fine. ... Much of what passes for the name of privacy is really just trying to conceal the disreputable parts of your conduct," Posner added. "Privacy is mainly about trying to improve your social and business opportunities by concealing the sorts of bad activities that would cause other people not to want to deal with you." Posner also criticized mobile OS companies for enabling
end-to-end encryption End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system of communication where only the communicating users can read the messages. In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including telecommunications service providers, telecom providers, Internet ...
in their newest software. "I'm shocked at the thought that a company would be permitted to manufacture an electronic product that the government would not be able to search" he said.


Patent and copyright law

Posner has expressed concerns, on the blog he contributed to with Gary Becker, that both patent and copyright protection, though particularly the former, may be excessive. He argues that the cost of inventing must be compared to the cost of copying in order to determine the optimal patent protection for an inventor. When patent protection is too strongly in favor of the inventor, market efficiency is decreased. He illustrates his argument by comparing the pharmaceutical industry (where the cost on invention is high) with the software industry (where the cost of invention is relatively low). However, Posner suggested that strengthening copyright law, including a possible bar on linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials, may be necessary as a means to prevent what he views as free riding on newspaper journalism. His co-blogger
Gary Becker Gary Stanley Becker (; December 2, 1930 – May 3, 2014) was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of ...
simultaneously posted a contrasting opinion that while the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
might hurt newspapers, it will not harm the vitality of the press, but rather embolden it.


Police recording

As part of a three-judge panel on the 7th Circuit in Chicago, weighing a challenge to the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which bars the secret recording of conversations without the consent of all the parties to the conversation, Posner was to deliver another memorable quote. At issue was the constitutionality of the Illinois wiretapping law, which makes it illegal to record someone without consent even when filming public acts like arrests in public. Posner interrupted the
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...
after just 14 words, stating, "Yeah, I know. But I'm not interested, really, in what you want to do with these recordings of peoples' encounters with the police. ..." Posner continued: "Once all this stuff can be recorded, there's going to be a lot more of this snooping around by reporters and bloggers. ... I'm always suspicious when the civil liberties people start telling the police how to do their business." The 7th Circuit upheld the challenge, 2–1, striking down the Eavesdropping Act, but Posner wrote a dissenting opinion.


Prisoners

In a dissent from an earlier ruling by his protégé Frank Easterbrook, Posner wrote that Easterbrook's decision that female guards could watch male prisoners while in the shower or bathroom must stem from a belief that prisoners are "members of a different species, indeed as a type of
vermin Vermin ( colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterp ...
, devoid of
human dignity Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inaliena ...
and entitled to no respect. ... I do not myself consider the 1.5 million inmates of American prisons and jails in that light."


Race and public education

Posner's views of public education policy are informed by his view that groups of students differ in intellectual ability, and therefore, that it is faulty to impose uniform educational standards on all schools. His view in this regard is undergirded by his view that different races differ in intelligence. (However, Posner says that he thinks it is "highly unlikely" that these differences are rooted in genetics, rather than environment.) In a blog post, Posner wrote, "I suggest that the only worthwhile reforms of teacher compensation are raising teacher wages uniformly, providing recognition and modest bonuses for outstanding teachers, and increasing hiring standards." In the same post, he wrote, "I am not clear what we should think the problem of American education (below the college level) is. Most children of middle-class ... Americans are white or Asian and attend good public or private schools, usually predominantly white. The average white IQ is of course 100 and the Asian (like the Jewish) almost one standard deviation higher, that is, 115. The average black IQ is 85, a full standard deviation below the white average, and the average Hispanic IQ has been estimated recently at 89. Black children in particular often come from disordered households, which has a negative effect on ability to learn and perhaps indeed on IQ. ... Increasingly, black and Hispanic students find themselves in schools with few white or Asian students. The challenge to American education is to provide a useful education to the large number of Americans who are unlikely to benefit from a college education or from high school courses aimed at preparing students for college."


Same-sex marriage

In September 2014, Posner authored the opinions in the consolidated cases of ''
Wolf v. Walker ''Wolf v. Walker'' is a federal lawsuit filed in February 2014 that challenged Wisconsin's refusal to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, its refusal to recognize same-sex marriages established in other jurisdictions, and related statutes ...
'' and '' Baskin v. Bogan'' challenging Wisconsin and Indiana's state level same-sex marriage bans. The opinion of the three-judge panel on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
and
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
's bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, affirming a lower court ruling. During oral arguments, Wisconsin's attorney general cited tradition as a reason for maintaining the ban, prompting Posner to note that: "It was tradition to not allow blacks and whites to marry—a tradition that got swept away." Though Posner argued in his 1992 book '' Sex and Reason'' that prohibitions against gay marriage were rationally justified, he held in the 2014 cases that the
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
bans were both "a tradition of hate" and "savage discrimination". Posner wrote the opinion for the unanimous panel, finding the laws unconstitutional under the
Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
. The Supreme Court then denied writ of certiorari and left Posner's ruling to stand.


Torture

When reviewing
Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...
's book, ''Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge'', Posner wrote in the September 2002 ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'', "If torture is the only means of obtaining the information necessary to prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb in
Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
, torture should be used—-and will be used—to obtain the information.... No one who doubts that this is the case should be in a position of responsibility."


Judicial career

Posner is one of the most prolific legal writers, through both the number and topical breadth of his opinions, to say nothing of his scholarly and popular writings. Unlike many other judges, he writes all his own opinions.
Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make o ...
economist
Robert Solow Robert Merton Solow, GCIH (; born August 23, 1924) is an American economist whose work on the theory of economic growth culminated in the exogenous growth model named after him. He is currently Emeritus Institute Professor of Economics at th ...
says that Posner "is an apparently inexhaustible writer on ... nearly everything. To call him a polymath would be a gross understatement. ... Judge Posner evidently writes the way other men breathe", though the economist describes the judge's grasp of economics as, "in some respects, ... precarious." In 1999, Posner was welcomed as a private
mediator Mediator may refer to: *A person who engages in mediation * Business mediator, a mediator in business * Vanishing mediator, a philosophical concept * Mediator variable, in statistics Chemistry and biology *Mediator (coactivator), a multiprotein ...
among the parties involved in the
Microsoft antitrust case ''United States v. Microsoft Corporation'', 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001), was a landmark American antitrust law case at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The U.S. government accused Microsoft of illegally m ...
. A study published by Fred Shapiro in the University of Chicago's ''The Journal of Legal Studies'' found Posner is the most-cited legal scholar of all time by a considerable margin, as Posner's work has generated 7,981 cites compared to the runner-up
Ronald Dworkin Ronald Myles Dworkin (; December 11, 1931 – February 14, 2013) was an American philosopher, jurist, and scholar of United States constitutional law. At the time of his death, he was Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New Yo ...
's 4,488 cites. Aside from the sheer volume of his output, Posner's opinions enjoy great respect from other judges, based on citations, and within the legal academy, where his opinions are taught in many foundational law courses.


Notable cases

In his decision in the 1997 case '' State Oil Co. v. Khan'', Posner wrote that a ruling 1968 antitrust precedent set by the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
was "moth-eaten", "wobbly", and "unsound". Nevertheless, he abided by the previous decision with his ruling. The Supreme Court granted
certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
and overturned the 1968 ruling unanimously;
Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
wrote the opinion and spoke positively of both Posner's criticism and his decision to abide by the ruling until the Court decided to change it.


Tort law

In '' Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. v. American Cyanamid Co.'' (1990), Posner lowered the standard of
legal liability In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government a ...
a railroad faced for a hazardous waste spill. The case became a staple of first year
tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
s courses taught in American law schools, where the case is used to address the question of when it is better to use
negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as ...
liability or
strict liability In criminal and civil law, strict liability is a standard of liability under which a person is legally responsible for the consequences flowing from an activity even in the absence of fault or criminal intent on the part of the defendant. ...
. In 1999, Posner applied the '' lex loci delicti commissi'' rule on
choice of law Choice of law is a procedural stage in the litigation of a case involving the conflict of laws when it is necessary to reconcile the differences between the laws of different legal jurisdictions, such as sovereign states, federated states (as in t ...
rather than the Restatement of Torts, Second when rejecting a claim by an Illinois dentist who slipped and fell in
Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has ...
, Mexico. In 2003, Posner affirmed a
punitive damages Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit. ...
award of 37.2 times the
compensatory damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
guests won from a bedbug infested
Motel 6 Motel 6 is a privately owned hospitality company with a chain of budget motels in the United States and Canada. Motel 6 also operates Studio 6, a chain of Apartment hotel, extended-stay hotels. The hotel brand is owned by The Blackstone Group's ...
. In 2003, Posner found that co-workers who did not prevent a
hypoglycemic Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar, is a fall in blood sugar to levels below normal, typically below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L). Whipple's triad is used to properly identify hypoglycemic episodes. It is defined as blood glucose belo ...
diabetic's fatal attempt to drive himself home violated no duty to rescue.


Contract law

In ''Morin Building Products Co. v. Baystone Construction, Inc.'' (1983), Posner held that the
Uniform Commercial Code The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of Uniform Acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through U ...
presumes contracts impose an objective standard upon what would subjectively be
illusory promise In contract law, an illusory promise is one that courts will not enforce. This is in contrast with a contract, which is a promise that courts will enforce. A promise may be illusory for a number of reasons. In common law countries this usually r ...
s. In 1987, Posner dissented when Judge Frank H. Easterbrook, joined by
Richard Dickson Cudahy Richard Dickson Cudahy (February 2, 1926 – September 22, 2015) was an American business executive, law professor, and United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Education and career Born in Milwa ...
, found that a stockbroker could sue his former employer under
SEC Rule 10b-5 SEC Rule 10b-5, codified at , is one of the most important rules targeting securities fraud promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, pursuant to its authority granted under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The rul ...
after he quit shortly before the firm's lucrative unannounced merger. In 1990, Posner found that Delaware corporate law did not permit an airline's board from adopting a poison pill provision that encouraged its machinists to take
strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the ...
if its pilots'
takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...
attempt succeeded. In 1991, Posner held that good faith performance is a factual question of the defendant's state of mind that must be proven at trial.


Civil rights

In 1984, Posner wrote for the ''
en banc In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...
'' circuit when it held that a consent decree regulating law enforcement
Red Squad In the United States, Red Squads were police intelligence units that specialized in infiltrating, conducting counter-measures and gathering intelligence on political and social groups during the 20th century. Dating as far back as the Haymarket R ...
s did not apply to FBI terrorism investigations, over the dissent of Judge
Richard Dickson Cudahy Richard Dickson Cudahy (February 2, 1926 – September 22, 2015) was an American business executive, law professor, and United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Education and career Born in Milwa ...
. In January 2001, Posner loosened that consent decree to allow the Chicago Police Department to conduct counterterrorism operations. In ''United States v. Marshall'' (1990), Posner dissented when Frank H. Easterbrook, writing for the ''en banc'' circuit, held that the punishment for possession of
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
is determined by the weight of the carrier it is found within. The circuit's judgment was then affirmed by the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
. In 1995, Posner, joined by Judge Walter J. Cummings Jr., affirmed an injunction blocking Illinois from closing schools on
Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy ...
as a violation of the
Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...
, over the dissent of Judge
Daniel Anthony Manion Daniel Anthony Manion (born February 1, 1942) is an American lawyer, politician, and jurist serving as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit whose chambers are in South Bend, Indiana. ...
. In 2000, Posner found that partners at a big law firm could be considered employees with regard to the
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA; to ) is a United States labor law that forbids employment discrimination against anyone, at least 40 years of age, in the United States (see ). In 1967, the bill was signed into law by Pr ...
. Posner found that
secondary liability Secondary liability, or indirect infringement, arises when a party materially contributes to, facilitates, induces, or is otherwise responsible for directly infringing acts carried out by another party. The US has statutorily codified secondary li ...
attaches to a
file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...
service for
contributory copyright infringement Contributory copyright infringement is a way of imposing secondary liability for infringement of a copyright. It is a means by which a person may be held liable for copyright infringement even though he or she did not directly engage in the infringi ...
in ''
In re Aimster Copyright Litigation ''In re Aimster Copyright Litigation'', 334 F.3d 643 ( 7th Cir. 2003), was a case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit addressed copyright infringement claims brought against Aimster, concluding that a preliminary i ...
'' (2003).


Awards and honors

A 2004 poll by ''Legal Affairs'' magazine named Posner as one of the top twenty legal thinkers in the U.S. In March 2007, the ''
Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...
'' dedicated an issue of faculty written case comments in tribute of Judge Posner. In 2008, the '' University of Chicago Law Review'' published a commemorative issue: "Commemorating Twenty-five Years of Judge Richard A. Posner." One of Posner's former clerks,
Tim Wu Timothy "Tim" Shiou-Ming Wu (born 1972) is a Taiwanese American legal scholar and official in the Biden Administration tasked with Technology and Competition policy. He was also a professor of law at Columbia University and a contributing opini ...
, calls Posner "probably America's greatest living jurist." Another of Posner's former legal clerks,
Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...
, wrote, "There isn't a federal judge I respect more, both as a judge and person." The former dean of
Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...
, Anthony T. Kronman, said that Posner was "one of the most rational human beings" he had ever met.


Personal life

Posner and his wife lived in Hyde Park, Chicago, for many years. His son
Eric Posner Eric Andrew Posner (; born December 5, 1965) is an American lawyer and legal scholar who has served as a counsel for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division since 2022. As a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, Posner has ...
is also a prominent legal scholar and teaches at the
University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
. Posner is a self-described "cat person" and is devoted to his
Maine Coon The Maine Coon is a large domesticated cat breed. It is one of the oldest natural breeds in North America. The breed originated in the U.S. state of Maine, where it is the official state cat. The breed was popular in cat shows in the late 19t ...
, Pixie. Posner appeared with his previous cat, a Maine Coon named Dinah, in a photograph accompanying a lengthy profile (of Posner) in ''The New Yorker'' in 2001. He has been known to illustrate legal points in his opinions with elaborate cat-related metaphors and examples. Posner was diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...
in early 2018, approximately six months after leaving the bench, and as of 2022 resides in a nursing facility.


Selected works


Books

* 1973 ''Economic Analysis of Law'', 1st ed. ** 2007 ''Economic Analysis of Law'', 7th ed., ** 2010 ''Economic Analysis of Law'', 8th ed., ** 2014 ''Economic Analysis of Law'', 9th ed. * 1978 ''Antitrust Law: An Economic Perspective'' ** 2001 ''Antitrust Law'', 2nd ed., * 1981
The Economics of Justice
', * 1985 ''The Federal Courts: Crisis and Reform'' ** 1996
The Federal Courts: Challenge and Reform
' (2d ed.), * 1988 ''Law and Literature: A Misunderstood Relation'', ** 1998 '' Law and Literature'' (revised and enlarged ed.), ** 2009 '' Law and Literature'', 3rd. ed., * 1990
The Problems of Jurisprudence
', * 1990 ''Cardozo: A Study in Reputation'', * 1992
Sex and Reason
', * 1995
Overcoming Law
', , Among the topics is a critique of
Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American jurist who served as the solicitor general of the United States from 1973 to 1977. A professor at Yale Law School by occupation, he later served as a judge on the U.S. Cour ...
's constitutional theories, review of books about the legal system in the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, and a discussion of the legal culture reflected in the works of
Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
and E.M. Forster. * 1995 ''Aging and Old Age'', * 1996 ''Law and Legal Theory in England and America'', * 1999
The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory
', * 1999 ''An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, . * 2001
Frontiers of Legal Theory
', * 2001 ''Breaking the Deadlock: The 2000 Presidential Election and the Courts'', * 2002
Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline
', * 2003
Law, Pragmatism and Democracy
', * 2003
The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law
' (Harvard Univ. Press) (with William Landes), * 2004 '' Catastrophe: Risk and Response'', * 2005 ''Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11'', * 2006 ''Uncertain Shield: The U.S. Intelligence System in the Throes of Reform'', * 2006 ''Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency'', * 2007 ''The Little Book of Plagiarism'', * 2007 ''Countering Terrorism: Blurred Focus, Halting Steps'', * 2008
How Judges Think
', * 2009 '' A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of '08 and the Descent into Depression'', * 2009 ''Uncommon Sense: Economic Insights, from Marriage to Terrorism'' (with
Gary Becker Gary Stanley Becker (; December 2, 1930 – May 3, 2014) was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of ...
) * 2010
The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy
', * 2013 ''Reflections on Judging'' * 2013
The Behavior of Federal Judges
', (with
Lee Epstein Lee Epstein is an American political scientist who is currently the University Professor of Law & Political Science and Charles L. and Ramona I. Hilliard Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Southern California. Career Universi ...
and William Landes) * 2016 ''Divergent Paths: The Academy and the Judiciary'' * 2017 ''The Federal Judiciary: Strengths and Weaknesses''


Articles

* ''The Federal Trade Commission'', 37 U. Chi. L. Rev. 47 (1969) * ''A Theory of Negligence'', 1 J. Legal Stud. 29 (1972) * ''The Economics of the Baby Shortage: A Modest Proposal'', 7 J. Legal Stud. 323 (with Elisabeth M. Landes) (1978) * ''Statutory Interpretation – In the Classroom and in the Courtroom'', 50 U. Chi. L. Rev. 800 (1983) * ''The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory'', 111 Harv. L. Rev. 1637 (1998) * ''Pragmatism Versus Purposivism in First Amendment Analysis'', 54 Stan. L. Rev. 737 (2002)
''Transaction Costs and Antitrust Concerns in the Licensing of Intellectual Property''
4 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 325 (2005)
''Foreword: A Political Court (The Supreme Court, 2004 Term)''
119 Harv. L. Rev. 31 (2005)


See also

*
American philosophy American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The '' Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can never ...
* '' International Airport Centers, L.L.C. v. Citrin'' (2006) *
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 3) Law clerks have assisted the justices of the United States Supreme Court in various capacities since the first one was hired by Justice Horace Gray in 1882. Each justice is permitted to have between three and four law clerks per Court term. Mo ...
*
List of Jewish American jurists This is a list of notable Jewish American jurists. For other famous Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews. Supreme Court of the United States Federal judges Appellate judges * Robert E. Bacharach, Judge of the United States Court of ...
* ''
Moore v. Madigan ''Moore v Madigan'' (USDC 11-CV-405-WDS, 11-CV-03134; 7th Cir. 12-1269, 12-1788) is the common name for a pair of cases decided in 2013 by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, regarding the constitutionality of the State of Illinois' no-issu ...
'' (2012) * '' Schurz Communications, Inc. v. FCC'' (1992) * '' United States v. Garcia'' (2007)


References


Further reading

* *


External links

*
"Curriculum Vitae of Judge Richard A. Posner"
(comprehensive list to October 14, 2014, of Posner's scholarly, journalistic, and judicial writing, and testimony)
Project Posner

Richard A. Posner
at the
University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

Richard A. Posner
at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

The Becker-Posner Blog

Posner's blog
at ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''
Profile
an

at
Research Papers in Economics Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, preprints, ...
/RePEc * * * *
Richard A. Posner
at the '' complete review''
"The Bench Burner"
interview/article in ''The New Yorker'', Dec. 10, 2001
Lawrence A. Cunningham, Cardozo and Posner: A Study in Contracts, 36 William & Mary Law Review 1379 (1995)
*
Buzzfeed article
on Posner's decision in '' Baskin v. Bogan''
Preliminary Description for the Richard A. Posner 1949–2018
at th
University of Chicago Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Posner, Richard Allen 1939 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American bloggers American legal scholars American legal writers American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American philosophers Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Critics of animal rights Federal Trade Commission personnel Harvard Law School alumni Jewish American writers Jewish philosophers Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States New York (state) Republicans Philosophers of law Pragmatists Scholars of competition law Law and economics scholars Stanford Law School faculty United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of Chicago Law School faculty Yale University alumni Chicago School economists Member of the Mont Pelerin Society