Bruce Arnold Ackerman (born August 19, 1943) is an American legal scholar who serves as a

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...

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 2010, he was named by ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'' magazine to its list of top global thinkers. Ackerman was also identified as one of the top 50 thinkers of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

era by ''Prospect''.

Early life and education

Ackerman was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on August 19, 1943 to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents whose families had fled

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

in previous decades to escape

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s. He grew up in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, graduating from the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science is a State school, public Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in the Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science ...

. He went on to earn a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

, ''

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 Sout ...

'', from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1964, followed by a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(equivalent to a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

) degree from

in 1967.

Career

Ackerman clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge

Henry Friendly Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903 – March 11, 1986) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge, federal circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 to 1986, and as the court's Ch ...

from 1967 to 1968, and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice

John Marshall Harlan II John Marshall Harlan (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971. Harlan is usually called John Marshall Harlan II to distinguish hi ...

from 1968 to 1969. Ackerman joined the faculty of University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1969. He was a professor at

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 ...

from 1974 to 1982 and at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

from 1982 to 1987. Since 1987 Ackerman has been the

of Law and Political Science at Yale. He teaches classes at Yale on the concepts of justice and on his theories of constitutional transformation. He regards himself as a legal pragmatist. He was elected a Fellow 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 ...

in 1986. He is also a Commander of the Order of Merit of the French Republic. Ackerman is listed as counsel in U.S. Army Captain Nathan Michael Smith's lawsuit against President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. The lawsuit asserts five counts against the President: that

Operation Inherent Resolve {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Operation Inherent Resolve , partof = the international military intervention against the Islamic State and the War on terror , image = , caption = U.S. Navy B ...

violates the

War Powers Resolution The War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act) () is a federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to ...

, that the Constitution's Take Care Clause requires the President to publish a sustained legal justification of his actions, that the

Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF; , ) is a joint resolution of the United States Congress which became law on September 18, 2001, authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the September ...

does not authorize the operation against ISIS, that the Iraq Resolution does not authorize the operation in Iraq, and that the Commander in Chief clause does not allow the President to authorize the operation. Captain Smith's attorneys allege he has standing to sue because he will be personally liable for any damages he inflicts in an illegal war. The White House responded that the lawsuit raises "legitimate questions". After the district court dismissed the lawsuit as a

political question In United States constitutional law, the political question Legal doctrine, doctrine holds that a constitutional dispute requiring knowledge of a non-legal character, techniques not suitable for a court, or matters explicitly assigned by the Const ...

, Ackerman appealed. In 2022, Ackerman co-authored a ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' article with Gerard Magliocca predicting that the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

would divide the country into Democratic states that disqualify

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

from appearing on the ballot under the

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Considered one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses Citizenship of the United States ...

for the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...

and Republican states which would not, potentially leading to a

constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the constitution, political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variat ...

in which no candidate wins a supermajority of votes in the

United States Electoral College In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United States, vice p ...

and in which the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

either nominates Trump as the winner despite losing the electoral vote or is completely incapable of resolving the issue through a

contingent election In the United States, a contingent election is used to elect the president or vice president if no candidate receives a majority of the whole number of electors appointed. A presidential contingent election is decided by a special vote of th ...

as constitutionally required. This prediction failed to play out after the Supreme Court ruled in ''Trump v. Anderson'' that individual states could not rule on the eligibility of a candidate.

Criticism of judicial review

Sandrine Baume identified Bruce Ackerman as a leading critic of the "compatibility of judicial review with the very principles of democracy," in contrast to writers like

John Hart Ely John Hart Ely ( ; December 3, 1938 – October 25, 2003) was an American legal scholar. He was a professor of law at Yale Law School from 1968 to 1973, Harvard Law School from 1973 to 1982, Stanford Law School from 1982 to 1996, and at the Uni ...

and

Ronald Dworkin Ronald Myles Dworkin (; December 11, 1931 – February 14, 2013) was an American legal 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 ...

. For his position as documented by Baume, Ackerman was joined in his opinion about

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...

by Larry Kramer and Mark Tushnet as the main proponents of the idea that

should be strongly limited and that the Constitution should be returned "to the people."

Personal life

Ackerman is married to Susan Rose-Ackerman, also a professor at Yale Law School, who teaches classes on

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

. Their son, John M. Ackerman, is also an academic, who lives and works in Mexico. Their daughter, Sybil Ackerman-Munson, is an environmentalist in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

Books

He is the author of nineteen books and more than ninety articles. His interests cover constitutional theory, political philosophy, comparative law and politics, law and economics, American constitutional history, the environment, modern economy and social justice. His works include: * 1980: '' Social Justice in the Liberal State'' () * 1991: ''We the People, Volume 1, Foundations'' () * 1995: ''Is NAFTA Constitutional?'', with David Golove () * 1998: ''We the People, Volume 2, Transformations'' () * 1999: ''The Stakeholder Society'', with Anne Alstott () * 2002: ''Voting with Dollars'', with Ian Ayres () * 2004: ''Deliberation Day'', with James S. Fishkin () * 2005: ''The Failure of the Founding Fathers'' () * 2006: ''Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism'' * 2010: ''The Decline and Fall of the American Republic'' () * 2014: ''We the People, Volume 3: The Civil Rights Revolution'' () * 2018: ''Revolutionary Constitutions: Charismatic Leadership and the Rule of Law'' () * 2024: ''The Postmodern Predicament: Existential Challenges of the Twenty-First Century'' () ''We the People: Foundations'' is best known for its forceful argument that the " switch in time", whereby a particular member of the

US Supreme Court 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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

changed his judicial philosophy to one that permitted much more of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

legislation in response to the so-called court-packing plan, is an example of political determination of constitutional meaning. Ackerman delivered the 2006 Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures at Harvard Law School. ''The Stakeholder Society'' served as a basis for the introduction of Child Trust Funds in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

held a conference in May 2019, about ''Revolutionary Constitutions: Charismatic Leadership and the Rule of Law'' with Ackerman and

Nadia Maftouni Nadia Maftouni (, born 14 January 1966) is an Iranian Academy, academic, philosophical author and artist. She is best known as a leading Researcher on Al-Farabi, Farabian, Avicenna, Avicennian and Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi, Suhraw ...

as keynote speakers. Maftouni also wrote a review on the book which was published in ''The Socratic Inquiry'' newsletter and an analytical paper about some parts of the book which was published in ''Journal of Contemporary Research on Islamic Revolution''.Nadia Maftouni, Is the Iranian Revolution Sustaining a Constitutional System? The Assessment in Terms of Bruce Ackerman's Theory, Journal of Contemporary Research on Islamic Revolution, 2 (6), 85-98 (2020).

References

External links

Bruce Ackerman's Profile at Yale Law School
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ackerman, Bruce American legal scholars American scholars of constitutional law Scholars of comparative law Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States American political philosophers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish American academics Columbia University faculty University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty Yale Law School faculty Yale Sterling Professors Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Yale Law School alumni Harvard College alumni The Bronx High School of Science alumni 1943 births Living people