Thacher Memorial Prize (1980) Louis Laun Prize (1980) Israel Peres Prize (1984) Paul M. Bator Award (1993) ABA Certificate of Merit (1998-99) American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007) ABA Silver Gavel Award (2005) William Clyde DeVane Medal (2008) American Bar Foundation Outstanding Scholar Award (2017) Howard R. Lamar Award (2017) Barry Prize (2024) Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award (2025)
Amar received his law degree from Yale Law School. After clerking for Judge (later Justice) Stephen Breyer, he joined the Yale Law School faculty in 1985 at the age of 26.[2] He is Yale's only living professor to have received the University's unofficial triple crown: the title of Sterling Professor for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service.[3]
His work has been cited in more than fifty U.S. Supreme Court cases by justices nominated by presidents of both parties—the most of any scholar under age 70.[4] Measured by a different metric—lifetime citations in law reviews—Amar is also the most-cited American constitutional scholar still under age 70, according to Fred R. Shapiro's 2021 citation study.[5]
His undergraduate mentors included American historians Edmund Morgan and John Morton Blum.[6] He graduated from Yale in 1980 with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, receiving a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, winning election to Phi Beta Kappa and Yale's Louis Laun graduation prize for overall excellence by an economic major.[9]
Amar joined the faculty of Yale Law School in 1985 as an assistant professor—at age 26, the youngest junior professor at the law school since Guido Calabresi in 1959[12]—and was promoted to full professor in 1990.[9] In 1993, he became Southmayd Professor of Law—at age 34, the youngest chaired professor at the law school since William O. Douglas in the early 1930s.[9] In 2008, he was appointed Sterling Professor of Law, the law school’s highest academic rank.[1]
He is the sole author of more than one hundred law review articles[4] and eight books, including The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760–1840 and its sequel Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920. Amar has stated that these two books are part of a planned trilogy, with a third volume tentatively titled Earth's Best Hope: America's Constitution, 1920–Present.[15]
Amar has described himself as a pro-choice liberal and a constitutional originalist.[16] Some of his positions have drawn criticism from progressive commentators and legal scholars.[17][18][19]
He supported Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court[20] and argued that overturning Roe v. Wade would not undermine other privacy-related rights, including the right to use contraceptives and the right to interracial marriage, recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut and Loving v. Virginia, respectively.[21]
Honors and awards
Amar’s books have received several awards and recognitions. In 1998–99, he received an ABA Certificate of Merit for The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.[22] His 2005 book, America’s Constitution: A Biography, received the ABA's annual Silver Gavel Award.[23] His 2012 book, America’s Unwritten Constitution, was named one of the 50 notable nonfiction books of the year by The Washington Post.[24] His 2015 book, The Constitution Today, was included on Time magazine’s list of top ten nonfiction books of the year.[25] His 2025 book Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840–1920 received the Abraham Lincoln Institute’s annual book award.[26] His books have also received a total of five starred reviews from Publishers Weekly[27] and Kirkus Reviews.[28]
In 2008, U.S. presidential candidate Mike Gravel stated that, if elected president, he would nominate Amar to the Supreme Court.[31]
In 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Amar to the National Council on the Humanities.[32] The Senate did not hold a confirmation vote. That same year, Amar received the William Clyde DeVane Medal for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, Yale’s highest teaching award.[33]
In 2017, he received the Outstanding Scholar Award from the American Bar Foundation[34] and the Association of Yale Alumni’s Howard R. Lamar Award for Outstanding Faculty Service to Yale Alumni.[35]
In 2024, Amar received the Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement from the American Academy of Sciences and Letters.[36]
Professional activities and public engagement
Amar has testified on many occasions before the United States Congress, sometimes at the invitation of Republicans and sometimes at the invitation of Democrats.[37] He has also delivered endowed lectures at over 75 universities, colleges, and schools in the United States and abroad.[38]
From 1999 to 2004, he was a contributing editor to The New Republic.[39][9] In the early 2000s, he participated in efforts to establish the National Constitution Center.[9]
He has served as a trustee of the American Exchange Project and the New York Historical.[9]
Media, podcasting, and commentary
Amar has participated in a range of media and public educational projects. In the early 2000s, he served as an informal consultant to the television series The West Wing.[40] He was referenced by name in a 2004 episode as a Yale Law School classmate of the fictional character Josh Lyman. Several later episodes addressed themes related to Amar’s published work on presidential succession and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.[41][42]
Personal life
Amar and his wife, Vinita Parkash, married in 1989 and have three children.[43] Amar has identified himself as a Christian.[44]
Selected works
Books
The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles (1997) ISBN0-300-06678-3
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