Sanford Levinson
Encyclopedia
Sanford Victor Levinson is a prominent American
liberal law professor and acknowledged expert on Constitutional law
and legal scholar and professor of government
at the University of Texas Law School. He is notable for his criticism of the United States Constitution
as well as excessive presidential power and has been widely quoted on such topics as the Second Amendment
, gay marriage, nominations to the Supreme Court, and other legal issues.
, a law degree from Stanford University
, and a PhD degree from Harvard University
. At one point he was a member of the department of Politics at Princeton
. Levinson taught law at Georgetown
, Yale
, Harvard
, New York University
, Boston University
, the University of Paris II, Central European University
in Budapest, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 2001, Levinson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. In 2010, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. In 1980, he joined the University of Texas School of Law
at Austin, Texas
where he is also a professor of government at Texas. He holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law.
of the United States Constitution
limits the government's authority to regulate private gun ownership. Levinson's opinions on Constitutional Law
have been reported in the media including his opinions about Second Amendment
cases. Levinson has been a panelist on programs sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools
and has spoken on topics alongside prominent lawyers such as Kenneth W. Starr. Levinson has been identified as a "prominent liberal law professor" and been grouped with other professors including Laurence H. Tribe of Harvard and Akhil Reed Amar
of Yale
. Levinson's opinion has been cited during the nominating process for Supreme Court
nominees.
Levinson has been critical of Supreme Court
justices who have stayed in office despite medical deterioration based on longevity; for example, Levinson criticized Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist for a "degree of egoistic narcissism" by declaring six weeks before his death of his intention to stay on. Levinson has called for term limits for Supreme Court justices along with a growing list of "scholars across the ideological spectrum." He has published comments critical of life tenure
for Supreme Court
justices.
Levinson is particularly noted for his "seminal article" in the Yale Law Journal
entitled The Embarrassing Second Amendment. He argued that the Second Amendment doesn't offer either gun rights or gun control
advocates a refuge. He argued "society must decide the issue of gun control on practical as well as on constitutional grounds ... the issue is to what extent does the Second Amendment permit the Government to do what it wants in controlling firearms, just as we have to establish the extent to which it can limit speech or break into your house without a warrant. Levinson has criticized liberal lawyers as treating "the Second Amendment as the equivalent of an embarrassing relative whose mention brings a quick change of subject." He has argued that the Constitution protects some personal ownership of firearms but admits that "courts are likely to rule that Congress can do almost anything short of an outright prohibition of owning guns." Levinson's article was cited in Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
' concurring opinion in Printz v. United States
.
Levinson taught a course called Torture, Law and Lawyers at Harvard Law School
in 2005. Levinson has written essays in The New York Times
. Levinson edited Torture: A Collection (2005). A reviewer commented: "What's most striking about these essays is that despite their abstract and theoretical content, they generally do not contradict the depiction of actual interrogators described by Mackey and Miller. The wall between the liberal campus and a conservative, utilitarian-minded military breaks down because the questions are so serious that few of this book's contributors want to engage in polemics, and few -- to their credit -- ever seem completely comfortable with their own conclusions."
Levinson has been a critic of the unitary executive and excessive presidential power. In the magazine Dissent
, he argued that “constitutional dictators have become the American norm." Presidents "have an incentive to declare emergencies” and assume “quasi-dictatorial powers," wrote Levinson. Levinson was highly critical of president George W. Bush
who he regarded as possibly the "absolutely worst president." Levinson notes that President Obama
seems likely to repeat the pattern of expansive presidential power. He wrote an essay titled “Are we electing a constitutional dictator?” in which he criticized a system which allows presidents to make dictatorial decisions of great consequence without providing ways to discipline those who display bad judgment. Levinson commented about a ban on gay marriage proposed by former President George W. Bush
in legal terms as a Constitutional issue.
Levinson has criticized the Constitution
for what he considers to be numerous failings, including an inability to remove a president despite lack of confidence by lawmakers and the public, the president's veto power as being "extraordinarly undemocratic", lack of representation in the Senate
for highly populated states such as California
. He also criticizes the primary process in which important states which aren't considered "battleground states" are ignored by presidential candidates. He's often called for a Second Constitutional Convention: "We ought to think about it almost literally every day, and then ask, 'Well, to what extent is government organized to realize the noble visions of the preamble?' That the preamble begins, 'We the people.' It's a notion of a people that can engage in self-determination." Levinson's book Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) calls for "wholesale revision of our nation's founding document."
Levinson appeared on the Bill Moyers
television program in 2007. Levinson's research interests include American Constitutional development, Constitutional design, law, religion, multiculturalism
, society
, and theories of Constitutional Interpretation. Levinson participates in a blog called Balkinization which focuses on constitutional, First Amendment
, and other civil liberties issues as well as a blog called Our Undemocratic Constitution. With Jeffrey K. Tulis, he is co-editor of the Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought and also of a new series, Constitutional Thinking at University Press of Kansas.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
liberal law professor and acknowledged expert on 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 scholar and professor of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
at the University of Texas Law School. He is notable for his criticism of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
as well as excessive presidential power and has been widely quoted on such topics as the Second Amendment
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
, gay marriage, nominations to the Supreme Court, and other legal issues.
Academic career
Sanford Levinson received a bachelor's degree from Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, a law degree from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and a PhD degree from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. At one point he was a member of the department of Politics at Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. Levinson taught law at Georgetown
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, Yale
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...
, Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, the University of Paris II, Central European University
Central European University
For other uses, see European University Central European University is a graduate-level, English-language university offering degrees in the social sciences, humanities, law, public policy, business management, environmental science, and mathematics...
in Budapest, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 2001, Levinson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
. In 2010, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. In 1980, he joined the University of Texas School of Law
University of Texas School of Law
The University of Texas School of Law, also known as UT Law, is an ABA-certified American law school located on the University of Texas at Austin campus. The law school has been in operation since the founding of the University in 1883. It was one of only two schools at the University when it was...
at Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
where he is also a professor of government at Texas. He holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law.
Books, scholarship, activism
Levinson is quoted often in publications about numerous topics involving law. Levinson has described himself as a "a card-carrying A.C.L.U. member who doesn't own a gun" who has argued that the Second AmendmentSecond Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
limits the government's authority to regulate private gun ownership. Levinson's opinions on 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....
have been reported in the media including his opinions about Second Amendment
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
cases. Levinson has been a panelist on programs sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools
Association of American Law Schools
The Association of American Law Schools is a non-profit organization of 170 law schools in the United States. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the legal profession through the improvement of legal...
and has spoken on topics alongside prominent lawyers such as Kenneth W. Starr. Levinson has been identified as a "prominent liberal law professor" and been grouped with other professors including Laurence H. Tribe of Harvard and Akhil Reed Amar
Akhil Reed Amar
Akhil Reed Amar is an American legal scholar, an expert on constitutional law and criminal procedure. Having been the Southmayd Professor of Law at Yale Law School, he was named the Sterling Professor of Law there in 2008...
of Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
. Levinson's opinion has been cited during the nominating process for Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
nominees.
Levinson has been critical of Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
justices who have stayed in office despite medical deterioration based on longevity; for example, Levinson criticized Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist for a "degree of egoistic narcissism" by declaring six weeks before his death of his intention to stay on. Levinson has called for term limits for Supreme Court justices along with a growing list of "scholars across the ideological spectrum." He has published comments critical of life tenure
Life tenure
A life tenure or service during good behaviour is a term of office that lasts for the office holder's lifetime , unless the office holder is removed from office for cause under extraordinary circumstances or chooses to resign.Judges and members of some upper chambers have life tenure...
for Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
justices.
Levinson is particularly noted for his "seminal article" in the Yale Law Journal
Yale Law Journal
The Yale Law Journal 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...
entitled The Embarrassing Second Amendment. He argued that the Second Amendment doesn't offer either gun rights or gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
advocates a refuge. He argued "society must decide the issue of gun control on practical as well as on constitutional grounds ... the issue is to what extent does the Second Amendment permit the Government to do what it wants in controlling firearms, just as we have to establish the extent to which it can limit speech or break into your house without a warrant. Levinson has criticized liberal lawyers as treating "the Second Amendment as the equivalent of an embarrassing relative whose mention brings a quick change of subject." He has argued that the Constitution protects some personal ownership of firearms but admits that "courts are likely to rule that Congress can do almost anything short of an outright prohibition of owning guns." Levinson's article was cited in Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....
' concurring opinion in Printz v. United States
Printz v. United States
Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 , was a United States Supreme Court ruling that established the unconstitutionality of certain interim provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.-The Gun Control Act of 1968:...
.
Levinson taught a course called Torture, Law and Lawyers 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...
in 2005. Levinson has written essays in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Levinson edited Torture: A Collection (2005). A reviewer commented: "What's most striking about these essays is that despite their abstract and theoretical content, they generally do not contradict the depiction of actual interrogators described by Mackey and Miller. The wall between the liberal campus and a conservative, utilitarian-minded military breaks down because the questions are so serious that few of this book's contributors want to engage in polemics, and few -- to their credit -- ever seem completely comfortable with their own conclusions."
Levinson has been a critic of the unitary executive and excessive presidential power. In the magazine Dissent
Dissent (magazine)
Dissent is a quarterly magazine focusing on politics and culture edited by Michael Walzer and Michael Kazin. The magazine is published for the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas, Inc by the University of Pennsylvania Press....
, he argued that “constitutional dictators have become the American norm." Presidents "have an incentive to declare emergencies” and assume “quasi-dictatorial powers," wrote Levinson. Levinson was highly critical of president George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
who he regarded as possibly the "absolutely worst president." Levinson notes that President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
seems likely to repeat the pattern of expansive presidential power. He wrote an essay titled “Are we electing a constitutional dictator?” in which he criticized a system which allows presidents to make dictatorial decisions of great consequence without providing ways to discipline those who display bad judgment. Levinson commented about a ban on gay marriage proposed by former President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in legal terms as a Constitutional issue.
Levinson has criticized the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
for what he considers to be numerous failings, including an inability to remove a president despite lack of confidence by lawmakers and the public, the president's veto power as being "extraordinarly undemocratic", lack of representation in the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for highly populated states such as California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He also criticizes the primary process in which important states which aren't considered "battleground states" are ignored by presidential candidates. He's often called for a Second Constitutional Convention: "We ought to think about it almost literally every day, and then ask, 'Well, to what extent is government organized to realize the noble visions of the preamble?' That the preamble begins, 'We the people.' It's a notion of a people that can engage in self-determination." Levinson's book Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) calls for "wholesale revision of our nation's founding document."
Levinson appeared on the Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator. He served as White House Press Secretary in the United States President Lyndon B. Johnson Administration from 1965 to 1967. He worked as a news commentator on television for ten years. Moyers has had an extensive involvement with public...
television program in 2007. Levinson's research interests include American Constitutional development, Constitutional design, law, religion, multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, and theories of Constitutional Interpretation. Levinson participates in a blog called Balkinization which focuses on constitutional, First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
, and other civil liberties issues as well as a blog called Our Undemocratic Constitution. With Jeffrey K. Tulis, he is co-editor of the Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought and also of a new series, Constitutional Thinking at University Press of Kansas.
Publications
- Torture: A Collection (2005)
- Constitutional Faith (1988)
- Written in Stone: Public Monuments in Changing Societies (1998)
- Wrestling With Diversity (2003)
- Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) (2006)
External links
- Levinson's page at the University of Texas School of Law
- Bloggingheads dialogue between Levinson and Professor Randy BarnettRandy BarnettRandy E. Barnett is a lawyer, a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and a legal theorist in the United States...
of the Georgetown University Law CenterGeorgetown University Law CenterGeorgetown 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...
, Bloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tv is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast online to viewers...