Jedediah Spenser Purdy (born 29 November 1974 in Chloe, West Virginia) is an American legal scholar and cultural commentator. In 2022 he became the Raphael Lemkin Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law, where he teaches courses on Property and Past and Future of Capitalist Democracy. From 2018 to 2022 he was William S. Beinecke Professor of Law at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

, teaching courses on American Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law and Democracy and its Crisis. He previously taught at Duke University School of Law from 2004 to 2018. Purdy is the author of two widely discussed books: ''For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today'' (1999) and ''Being America: Liberty, Commerce and Violence in an American World'' (2003). He is also the author of ''Two Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy Is Flawed, Frightening ― and Our Best Hope'' (2022), ''This Land Is Our Land: The Struggle for a New Commonwealth'' (2019), ''After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene'' (2015), ''The Meaning of Property: Freedom, Community and the Legal Imagination '' (2010), and ''A Tolerable Anarchy: Rebels, Reactionaries, and the Making of American Freedom'' (2009).

Early life and education

Purdy, the son of Wally and Deirdre Purdy, was homeschooled in West Virginia until age 13, high school. He graduated from

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

and

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, where he was inducted into

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

as a junior in 1996 and became a

Truman Scholar The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is a graduate fellowship in the United States for public service leadership. It is a federally funded scholarship granted to U.S. undergraduate students for demonstrated leadership potential, academic excellence ...

in 1997. He graduated from

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 its Class of 2001. From 2001 to 2002, he was a fellow at the New America Foundation, a

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

that has been described in the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

radical centrist Radical centrism, also called the radical center, the radical centre, and the radical middle, is a concept that arose in Western nations in the late 20th century. The '' radical'' in the term refers to a willingness on the part of most radical ...

orientation Orientation may refer to: Positioning in physical space * Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions * Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building des ...

Career

After law school, Purdy clerked for Pierre N. Leval of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York (state), New York, and Vermont, and it has ap ...

, in New York in 2002–2003. From 2004 to 2019, Purdy was a professor of law at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

teaching

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, environmental, and

property law Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual prope ...

. He also served on the editorial advisory board of the '' Ethics & International Affairs''. Purdy joined the faculty of

in July 2019.

Works

*''For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today'', Knopf (1999) *''Being America: Liberty, Commerce and Violence in an American World'', Vintage (2003) *''A Tolerable Anarchy: Rebels, Reactionaries, and the Making of American Freedom'', Knopf (2009) *''The Meaning of Property: Freedom, Community and the Legal Imagination'', Yale University Press (2010) * *''After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene'', Harvard University Press (2015) *''This Land Is Our Land: The Struggle for a New Commonwealth'', Princeton University Press (October 15, 2019)

Notes

External links

Columbia Law School faculty profile
''New York Times Magazine'', 5 September 1999

Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 17.2 Carnegie Council, September 16, 2003

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080707082431/http://www.mcsweeneys.net/1999/10/12jedediah.html Todd Pruzan, "Jedediah in Love" ''McSweeney's'', 12 October 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Purdy, Jedediah American legal scholars 21st-century American non-fiction writers American political writers Radical centrist writers Duke University School of Law faculty Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Harvard College alumni Yale University alumni People from Calhoun County, West Virginia 1974 births Living people Columbia Law School faculty