Kermit Roosevelt III (born July 14, 1971) is an American author, lawyer, and David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice at the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

. He is a great-great-grandson of

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

and a distant cousin of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

Early life and education

Roosevelt was born 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 ...

, on July 14, 1971. His father, also named Kermit, was a son of Kermit Roosevelt Jr. and a great-grandson of President

. He graduated from St. Albans School (where he was a Presidential Scholar),

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. He was a

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

for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the D.C. Circuit, and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice

David Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; September 17, 1939 – May 8, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H ...

."Politics skews perception on judicial rulings: author". STEPHANIE POTTER. ''Chicago Daily Law Bulletin'' Pg. 10001. January 23, 2007.

Career

Roosevelt worked as a lawyer with

Mayer Brown Mayer Brown is a global white-shoe law firm, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It has offices in 27 cities throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, with its largest offices being in Chicago, Washington, D.C., New ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

from 2000 to 2002 before joining the Penn Law faculty in 2002. He was an assistant professor, from 2002 to 2007, and Professor of Law (Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law), from 2007 to 2021, when he was appointed as David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice. Roosevelt's areas of academic interest include conflicts of law and constitutional law. His articles have been cited twice by the United States Supreme Court and numerous times by state and lower federal courts. His scholarly publications include "Resolving Renvoi: the Bewitchment of Our Intelligence by Means of Language," ''

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Law Review'' (2005). Roosevelt has also written two novels, both of which dramatize legal settings. His TEDx talk (June, 2016) is entitled "Myth America: The Declaration, the Constitution, and Us."

Activities

In May, 2016, Roosevelt and Karen Korematsu (daughter of a prominent American opponent of Japanese-American internment during World War 2) were featured speakers at a National Constitution Center program. It is the first time a member of the Roosevelt family and a member of the Korematsu family appeared in a public forum. Roosevelt is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the American Law Institute. In November 2014, the American Law Institute announced that Roosevelt had been selected as the Reporter for the Third Restatement of Conflict of Laws.

Reception of novels

Roosevelt's first novel, ''In the Shadow of the Law'', had generally positive reviews. It was a Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year.

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, U.S. constitutional and American criminal law, criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law Sc ...

, writing in ''

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 ...

'', said that the book "suffers from the showoffy-ness of an aspiring artiste" but recommended it "with real enthusiasm" because its critique of legal firms "rings true of all too many corporate law factories." Roosevelt's second novel, ''Allegiance'', published in 2015, was a Harper Lee Prize finalist. It received favorable reviews in ''The Wall Street Journal'' ("well worth reading") and ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch'' ("splendid, troubling, and authoritative") and a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The story examines U.S. national security policies during World War II, focusing on President Franklin D. Roosevelt's

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...

, which authorized the internment of Japanese Americans.

Books

Nonfiction

* * *

Fiction

* *

References

External links

Kermit Roosevelt Official Website

University of Pennsylvania Faculty Webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roosevelt, Kermit, Iii 1971 births 21st-century American novelists American male novelists Bulloch family Conflict of laws scholars Harvard University alumni Illinois lawyers Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Living people Members of the American Law Institute Novelists from Pennsylvania Kermit St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni American scholars of constitutional law University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty Yale Law School alumni 21st-century American male writers