Adam Liptak (born September 2, 1960) is an American journalist, lawyer and instructor in law and journalism. He is the Supreme Court correspondent for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''.
Liptak has written for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', ''
The New York Observer
''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...
'', ''
Business Week
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...
. He first joined ''The New York Times'' as a copyboy in 1984 after graduating ''
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 Sout ...
'' from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, where he was an editor of the ''
Yale Daily News
The ''Yale Daily News'' is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut, since January 28, 1878.
Description
Financially and editorially independent of Yale University since its founding, th ...
'', with a degree in English. In addition to clerical work and fetching coffee, he assisted the reporter M. A. Farber in covering the trial of a
libel suit
Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
in 1988. During law school, Liptak worked as a summer clerk in
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American mass media corporation that publishes ''The New York Times'' and its associated publications such as ''The New York Times International Edition'' and other media properties. The New York Times Company's ...
's legal department. After graduating, he spent four years at
Cahill Gordon & Reindel
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP is an American law firm based in New York City with offices also in Washington, D.C. and London. Founded in 1919, it is prominent in the practice areas of capital markets and banking & finance.
History
Cahill opene ...
, a New York City law firm, as a litigation associate specializing in First Amendment matters.
In 1992, he returned to The New York Times Company's legal department. Liptak spent a decade advising ''The New York Times'' and the company's other newspapers, television stations and new media properties on defamation, privacy, news gathering and related issues and frequently litigated media and commercial cases.
Career
Liptak joined ''The New York Times'' news staff in 2002 as its national legal correspondent. He covered the Supreme Court nominations of
John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
and
Samuel Alito
Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Samuel Alito Supreme Court ...
; the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of
Valerie Plame
Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy, novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA offic ...
, an undercover
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
operative; the trial of John Lee Malvo, one of the Washington-area snipers; judicial ethics; and various aspects of the criminal justice system,Kevin Baker "Cruel and Usual: Why Prisoners Shouldn't Pay Their Way," '' American Heritage'', June/July 2006. including capital punishment. He inaugurated the ''Sidebar'' column in January 2007. The column covers and considers developments in the law.
In 2005, he examined the rise in life sentences in the U.S. in a three-part series. The next year, Liptak and two colleagues studied connections between contributions to the campaigns of justices on the
Ohio Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, ...
and those justices' voting records. He was a member of the teams that examined the reporting of
Jayson Blair
Jayson Thomas Blair (born March 23, 1976) is a former American journalist who worked for ''The New York Times''. In May 2003, he resigned from the newspaper following the revelation of fabrication and plagiarism within his articles.
In 2004, h ...
and Judith Miller at ''The New York Times'', in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
He began covering the Supreme Court in 2008. He followed Linda Greenhouse, who had covered the Supreme Court for nearly 30 years.
Liptak has served as the chairman of the
New York City Bar Association
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commonly referred to as the New York City Bar Association (City Bar), founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization has been headquartere ...
’s communications and media law committee and was a member of the board of the Media Law Resource Center.
He has taught courses on media law and the Supreme Court at
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...
,
UCLA School of Law
The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles.
History
Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...
,
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 180 full-time and part-time facul ...
, University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, and Yale Law School.
Liptak's work has appeared in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', ''
The New York Observer
''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...
'', ''
Business Week
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
'', and ''
The American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill. Liptak was also featured in ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students.
His ...
s 2014 commencement issue with his column entitled "Please Calculate Badly." In 2013, he published an e-book, ''To Have and Uphold: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage''.
Awards
In 1995, ''Presstime'' magazine named him one of 20 leading newspaper professionals under the age of 40. In 1999, he received the
New York Press Club
The New York Press Club, sometimes ''NYPC'', is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes journalism in the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. It is unaffiliated with any government organization and abstains from ...
's
John Peter Zenger
John Peter Zenger (October 26, 1697 – July 28, 1746) was a German printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed ''The New York Weekly Journal''. He was accused of Defamation, libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of Pro ...
award for "defending and advancing the cause of a free press". In 2006, the same group awarded him its Crystal Gavel award for his journalistic work.
He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2009, and he won the 2010 Scripps HowardRaymond Clapper Award for Washington Reporting for a five-part series on the Roberts Court.
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university in DeLand, Florida, United States. Established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, it was later renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of John B. Stetson.
The university's main campus in DeLand spans 175 ...
awarded Liptak an honorary doctor of laws degree in 2014, and
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...
presented him with its Presidential Medal in 2008. He is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
.
Personal life
Liptak lives in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, with his wife, Jennifer Bitman, a veterinarian, and their children, Katie and Ivan.