Mark Tushnet
Encyclopedia
Mark Victor Tushnet is the William Nelson Cromwell
Professor
of Law
at Harvard Law School
. A prominent scholar of constitutional law
and legal history, he is the author of many books and articles.
from Harvard College
. He later received an M.A.
in history from Yale University
and his J.D.
from the Yale Law School
. Tushnnet has been a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
, and he taught for many years at the Georgetown University Law Center
.
Tushnet served as a law clerk to Justice
Thurgood Marshall
on the Supreme Court between 1972 and 1973. In a 1996 congressional hearing on President Bill Clinton
's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
, Tushnet testified as to his involvement in Roe v. Wade
, the 1973 case which struck down state laws prohibiting abortion. During questioning it was alleged that a memorandum written by Tushnet to Marshall had a significant influence on the outcome of the case.
One of the more controversial figures in constitutional theory, he is identified with the 'critical legal studies
' movement and once stated in an article that, were he asked to decide actual cases as a judge, he would seek to reach results that would "advance the cause of socialism". Tushnet is a main proponent of the idea that judicial review
should be strongly limited and that the Constitution should be returned "to the people." Tushnet is, with Professor Vicki Jackson of Georgetown, the co-author of a casebook
entitled Comparative Constitutional Law (Foundation Press, 2d ed. 2006).
. Their daughter Rebecca is a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center
, and their daughter Eve is a freelance conservative opinion writer and journalist.
William Nelson Cromwell
William Nelson Cromwell was an American attorney active in promotion of the Panama Canal and other major ventures.He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised there by his mother, Sarah M. Brokaw, a Civil War widow...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Law
Legal education
Legal education is the education of individuals who intend to become legal professionals or those who simply intend to use their law degree to some end, either related to law or business...
at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. A prominent scholar of constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
and legal history, he is the author of many books and articles.
Career
Tushnet received his A.B.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
. He later received an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in history from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and his J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
. Tushnnet has been a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, and he taught for many years at the Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
.
Tushnet served as a law clerk to Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
on the Supreme Court between 1972 and 1973. In a 1996 congressional hearing on President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is a United States law prohibiting a form of late-term abortion that the Act calls "partial-birth abortion", often referred to in medical literature as intact dilation and extraction...
, Tushnet testified as to his involvement in Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
, the 1973 case which struck down state laws prohibiting abortion. During questioning it was alleged that a memorandum written by Tushnet to Marshall had a significant influence on the outcome of the case.
One of the more controversial figures in constitutional theory, he is identified with the 'critical legal studies
Critical legal studies
Critical legal studies is a movement in legal thought that applied methods similar to those of critical theory to law. The abbreviations "CLS" and "Crit" are sometimes used to refer to the movement and its adherents....
' movement and once stated in an article that, were he asked to decide actual cases as a judge, he would seek to reach results that would "advance the cause of socialism". Tushnet is a main proponent of the idea that judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
should be strongly limited and that the Constitution should be returned "to the people." Tushnet is, with Professor Vicki Jackson of Georgetown, the co-author of a casebook
Casebook
A casebook is a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools. Rather than simply laying out the legal doctrine in a particular area of study, a casebook contains excerpts from legal cases in which the law of that area was applied. It is then up to the student to analyze the language...
entitled Comparative Constitutional Law (Foundation Press, 2d ed. 2006).
Personal life
Tushnet is married to Elizabeth Alexander, who directs the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
. Their daughter Rebecca is a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
, and their daughter Eve is a freelance conservative opinion writer and journalist.
Books
- The New Constitutional Order (Prininceton U. Press 2003).
- The Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies (Peter Cane & Mark V. Tushnet eds., Oxford U. Press 2003).
- Defining the Field of Comparative Constitutional Law (Vicki C. Jackson & Mark Tushnet eds., Praeger 2002).
- And L. Michael Seidman et al., Constitutional Law (Little, Brown and Co. 4th ed. 2001).
- Et al., Federal Courts in the 21st Century: Cases and Materials (LexisNexisLexisNexisLexisNexis Group is a company providing computer-assisted legal research services. In 2006 it had the world's largest electronic database for legal and public-records related information...
2001). - Making Constitutional Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1961-1991 (1997).
- Brown v. Board of Education: The Battle for Integration (1995).
- The Warren Court in Historical and Political Perspective (Mark V. Tushnet ed., 1993).
- Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1956-1961 (1994).
- The NAACP's Legal Strategy Against Segregated Education, 1925-1950 (1987).
- The American Law of Slavery, 1810-1860: Considerations of Humanity and Interest (1981).
- And L. Michael Seidman et al., Constitutional Law (Little, Brown and Co. Supp. 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 2d ed. 1991, Supp. 1992, 1995, 1996, 3d ed. 1996, Supp. 1998, 4th ed. 2001).
- And Vicki C. Jackson, Comparative Constitutional Law (Foundation Press 1999).
- Taking the Constitution Away From the Courts (Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
1999), excerpted in Great Cases in Constitutional Law (Robert P. George ed., Princeton University Press, 2000) (reprinting chapter 1 in substance). Symposium of Commentaries on this book: 34 University of Richmond Law Review 359-566 (2000). - And L. Michael Seidman et al., Teacher's Manual to The First Amendment (Aspen Law & Business 1999).
- And Francisco Forrest Martin, The Rights International Companion to Constitutional Law: An International Human Rights Law Supplement (Kluwer Law International 1999).
- And L. Michael Seidman, Remnants of Belief: Contemporary Constitutional Issues (Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
1996). - Constitutional Issues: The Death Penalty (Facts On File, Inc. 1994).
- Constitutional Law (International Library of Essays in Law & Legal Theory) (Mark V. Tushnet, ed., New York University Press 1992).
- Comparative Constitutional Federalism: Europe and America (Mark V. Tushnet ed., Greenwood Press 1990).
- Central America and the Law: The Constitution, Civil Liberties, and the Courts (South End PressSouth End PressSouth End Press is a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, John Schall, Pat Walker, Juliet Schor, Mary Lea, Joe Bowring, and Dave Millikan, among others, in Boston's South End...
1988). - Red, White, and Blue: A Critical Analysis of Constitutional Law (Harvard University PressHarvard University PressHarvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
1988). - I Dissent: Great Opposing Opinions in Landmark Supreme Court Cases, (Malaysia: Beacon Press, pp. 256, 2008)
- Out of Range: Why the Constitution Can't End the Battle over Guns (Inalienable Rights).
- A Court Divided: The Rehnquist Court and the Future of Constitutional Law (W.W. Norton & Company 2005)