Kenji Yoshino (born May 1, 1969) is a

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in ...

.NYU Hires Kenji Yoshino as Permanent Faculty Member
/ref> Formerly, he was the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at

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 ...

. His work involves

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

anti-discrimination law Anti-discrimination law or non-discrimination law refers to legislation designed to prevent discrimination against particular groups of people; these groups are often referred to as protected groups or protected classes. Anti-discrimination laws ...

, civil and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, as well as law and literature, and Japanese law and society.

Education

Yoshino graduated from

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

(1987) as valedictorian and

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

, obtaining a B.A. in English literature ''summa cum laude'' in 1991. Between undergraduate years, Yoshino worked as an aide for various members of the Japanese Parliament. He moved on to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, earning a M.Sc. in management studies (industrial relations) in 1993. In 1996, he earned a J.D. from

, where he was an editor of the ''

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 ...

''.

Career

From 1996 to 1997, Yoshino served as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for federal appellate judge

Guido Calabresi Guido Calabresi (born October 18, 1932) is an Italian-born American legal scholar and Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a former Dean of Yale Law School, where he has been a pr ...

of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1998, he received a tenure-track position at Yale Law School as an associate professor, and in 2003 the school bestowed a full professorship. In 2006, he was named the inaugural Guido Calabresi Professor of Law. Courts throughout the United States, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have referenced Yoshino's work. His first book '' Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights'' was published in 2006. It is a mix of argument intertwined with pertinent biographical narratives. His second book, ''A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare's Plays Teach Us About Justice'' was published in 2011. In 2016, his book ''Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial'' was published and received the Stonewall Book Award's Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award. ''Covering'' won the

Randy Shilts Award The Randy Shilts Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour works of non-fiction of relevance to the gay community. First presented in 1997, the award was named in memory of American journalist Randy Shilts. Win ...

for Gay Non-Fiction from Publishing Triangle in 2007. His major areas of interest include social dynamics, conformity and assimilation, as well as queer (

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

) and personal liberty issues. He has been a co-

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

in cases related to his specialties. During the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school years, he served as a visiting professor at New York University School of Law, and in February 2008 he accepted a full-time tenured position as the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law. In May 2011, Yoshino was elected to the

Harvard Board of Overseers The Harvard Board of Overseers (more formally The Honorable and Reverend the Board of Overseers) is one of Harvard University's two governing boards. Although its function is more consultative and less hands-on than the President and Fellows of Ha ...

, where he served a six-year term.

Personal life

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

, and openly gay man, Yoshino writes poetry for personal enjoyment.Yoshino, Kenj
A Conversation with Yale Law Professor Kenji Yoshino, Author of 'Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights'
, transcript of

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cov ...

program (February 17, 2005). Retrieved on May 17, 2007.

Major works

* (1996)
"Suspect Symbols: The Literary Argument for Heightened Scrutiny for Gays"
''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

'', 96 (1753). * (1997)
"The Lawyer of Belmont"
'' Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities''. 9 (183). * (1998)
"Assimilationist Bias in Equal Protection: The Visibility Presumption and the Case of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'"
''

'' 108 (487). * (2000)
"The Epistemic Contract of Bisexual Erasure"
''

Stanford Law Review The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produces s ...

'', 52 (2). * (2000). "The Eclectic Model of Censorship". '' California Law Review'', 88 (5). * (2002)
"Covering"
''

'', 111 (769). * (2005)
"The City and the Poet"
''

'', 114 (1835). * (2006). '' Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights''.

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. . * (2011)
"The New Equal Protection"
''

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 ...

'', 124 (747). * (2011)
'' A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare's Plays Teach Us About Justice.''

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

. . * (2016)
''Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial.''

Broadway Books Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., released its first list in Fall, 1996. Broadway was founded in 1995 as a unit of Bantam Doubleday Dell a unit of Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann acquired Rando ...

. .

References

External links

NYU School of Law profile

Personal website

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshino, Kenji 1969 births Living people Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford American academics of Japanese descent American essayists American gay writers American legal scholars American legal writers American male essayists American Rhodes Scholars Gay academics Harvard College alumni Japanese-American civil rights activists LGBT American people of Asian descent LGBT rights activists from the United States New York University School of Law faculty Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Stonewall Book Award winners Yale Law School alumni Yale Law School faculty