Vikram David Amar (born February 15, 1963) is an American legal scholar focusing on constitutional law, federal courts, and civil and criminal procedure. In August 2015, he became dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Iwan Foundation Professor of Law. He returned to the University of California, Davis School of Law as a Distinguished Professor of Law in 2023.

Biography

Amar received an A.B. in history from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. In 1988, he earned his J.D. 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 ...

, where he served as an articles editor for the ''

Yale Law Journal ''The Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ) 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 at Yale Law School. The journal is one ...

''. Prior to his arrival at Illinois Law, Amar was professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs at the UC Davis School of Law (King Hall). Before becoming a professor, he clerked for Judge William Albert Norris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Harry Blackmun at the U.S. Supreme Court. After serving as a clerk, Amar worked in the

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, then began his career in legal academia in 1993 at King Hall. He joined the UC Hastings faculty in 1998, before returning to King Hall in 2007. He writes a biweekly column for justia.com. Previously, he wrote a regular column for FindLaw's

Writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

. He also frequently appears on national radio and television programs as a commentator on contemporary legal issues. Amar is the younger brother of

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 ...

law professor Akhil Reed Amar. Vikram Amar was a student at Yale Law School at the time Akhil Amar started teaching there. The two have collaborated on cutting-edge and influential articles on many important topics, including the "Amar Plan" proposal for a National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, and the implausibility of

independent state legislature theory The independent state legislature theory or independent state legislature doctrine (ISL) is a judicially rejected legal theory that posits that the Constitution of the United States delegates authority to regulate Federal elections in the United ...

. as well as submitting an Amici Curiae brief to the

Supreme Court of the United States 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 ...

concerning the disqualification of the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump by the Colorado Supreme Court, under Section 3 of 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 ...

References

External links

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University of Illinois College of Law Faculty: Vikram David AmarList of Amar's publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amar, Vikram University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Living people American legal scholars Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni UC Davis School of Law faculty University of California College of the Law, San Francisco faculty Yale Law School alumni American academics of Indian descent Deans of law schools in the United States People associated with Gibson Dunn Indian legal scholars 1963 births 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century Indian scholars

Biography

See also

References

External links