Richard Epstein

Life and career

Richard A. Epstein was born on April 17, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Bernard Epstein (1908–1978), was a radiologist, and his mother, Catherine Epstein (née Reiser; 1908–2004), managed his father's medical office. He has two sisters. He attended elementary school at P.S. 161, a school that is now one of the Success Academy Charter Schools. Epstein and his family lived in Brooklyn until 1954, when his father began working at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center and their family moved to Great Neck, Long Island.

Epstein attended Columbia University as an undergraduate student in the early 1960s. Epstein had wide-ranging academic interests and did not wish to select a traditional single major, and obtained permission from Columbia to pursue an unusual self-selected program of study across the three areas of sociology, philosophy, and mathematics. He graduated with a B.A. degree summa cum laude in 1964. Epstein's undergraduate performance earned him a Kellett Fellowship, an award at Columbia that pays for two of each year's top graduates to spend two years in England studying at either Cambridge University or Oxford University. Epstein chose to attend Oxford, studying at Oriel College and earning a first-class honours B.A. in jurisprudence in 1966. He then returned to the United States to attend the Yale Law School at Yale University, graduating with an LL.B. cum laude in 1968.

After graduating from law school, Epstein was hired as an assistant professor of law at the University of Southern California. He taught there until 1972 when he moved to the University of Chicago, where he taught for 38 years and eventually held the title of James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law. Epstein formally retired from Chicago in 2010, but quickly came out of retirement to join the faculty of New York University as its inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law. He remains a professor emeritus and senior lecturer at Chicago, teaching courses there on an occasional basis. In 2013, New York University's School of Law established a new academic research center, the Classical Liberal Institute, and named Epstein as its inaugural director.

Since 2001, Epstein has served as the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a prominent American public policy think tank located at Stanford University.

Epstein has served in many academic and public organizations and has received a number of awards. In 1983, Epstein was made a senior fellow at the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Medical School, and in 1985 was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and was editor of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991 to 2001. In 2003, Epstein received an honorary LL.D. degree from the University of Ghent. In 2005 the College of William & Mary awarded him the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize for his contributions to the field of property rights, and in 2011 he was awarded a Bradley Prize by the Bradley Foundation.

Writings

Epstein's early scholarship focused primarily on tax law and torts. However, he became famous in the American legal community in 1985 with Harvard University Press' publication of his book Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain. In it, Epstein argued that the "takings clause" of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—which reads, "...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation", and is traditionally viewed as an enumeration of the power of eminent domain—gives constitutional protection to citizens' economic rights, and so requires the government to be regarded with the same respect as any other private entity in a property dispute. The argument was controversial and sparked a great deal of debate on the interpretation of the "takings clause" after its publication. In 1991, during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court Justice confirmation hearings, Senator Joe Biden, "in a dramatic movement," held the book up and "repeatedly interrogated" Thomas regarding his position on the book's thesis. The book served as a focal point in the argument about the government's ability to control private property. The book has also influenced how some courts view property rights and has been cited by the US Supreme Court in four cases, including Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council from 1992.

Epstein is an advocate of minimal legal regulation. In his book Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995), Epstein consolidated much of his previous work and argues that simple rules work best because complexities create excessive costs. Complexity comes from attempting to do justice in individual cases. Complex rules are justifiable, however, if they can be opted out of. For instance, drawing on Gary Becker, he argues that the Civil Rights Act and other anti-discrimination legislation would be better if they were repealed. Consistent with the principles of classical liberalism, he believes that the federal regulation on same-sex marriage, the Defense of Marriage Act, should be repealed, stating:

Under our law, only the state may issue marriage licenses. That power carries with it a duty to serve all-comers on equal terms, which means that the state should not be able to pick and choose those on whom it bestows its favors. DOMA offends this principle in two ways. First, it excludes polygamous couples from receiving these marital benefits. Second, it excludes gay couples. Both groups contribute to the funds that support these various government programs. Both should share in its benefits.

Influence

In 2006, the American scholar James W. Ely, Jr. wrote: "It is a widely accepted premise that Professor Richard A. Epstein has exercised a pervasive influence on American legal thought." A study published in The Journal of Legal Studies in 2000 identified Epstein as the 12th-most cited legal scholar of the entire 20th century. In 2008, he was chosen in a poll taken by Legal Affairs as one of the most influential legal thinkers of modern times. A study of legal publications between 2009 and 2013 found Epstein to be the 3rd most frequently cited American legal scholar, behind only Cass Sunstein and Erwin Chemerinsky.

Politics

Epstein has said that when voting, he chooses "anyone but the Big Two" who are "just two members of the same statist party fighting over whose friends will get favors". He has voted Libertarian. Epstein says he is "certainly a Calvin Coolidge fan; he made some mistakes, but he was a small-government guy". Epstein served on The Constitution Project's Guantanamo Task Force.

In early 2015, Epstein commented on his relationship to the modern American political landscape, stating: "I'm in this very strange position: I'm not a conservative when it comes to religious values and so forth, but I do believe, in effect, in a strong foreign policy and a relatively small domestic government, but that's not the same thing as saying I believe in no government at all." He has also been characterized as a libertarian conservative. During a debate with Chris Preble in December 2016, Epstein identified himself as being a "libertarian hawk."

Personal life

Epstein's wife, Eileen W. Epstein, is a fundraiser and educator who is serves on the board of trustees for the philanthropic organization American Jewish World Service. They have three children: two sons, Benjamin M. and Elliot, and a daughter, Melissa. Epstein is a first cousin of the comedian and actor Paul Reiser.

Regarding his religious views, Epstein has described himself as "a rather weak, non-practicing Jew."

Selected works

Epstein, Richard A.; Gregory, Charles; Kalven, Harry (1977). Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts (3rd ed.). New York: Little, Brown & Co.  4th edition (1984), New York: Little, Brown & Co.

Epstein, Richard A. (1985). Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674867297. 

——— (1990). Cases and Materials on Torts (5th ed.). New York: Little, Brown & Co.  6th edition (1995); 7th edition (2000), Aspen Publishers; 8th edition (2004), Aspen Publishers; 9th edition (2008), Aspen Publishers; (with Catherine Sharkey) 10th edition (2012), Aspen Publishers.

——— (1992). Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674308084. 

———; Stone, Geoffrey R.; Sunstein, Cass R. (1992). The Bill of Rights in the Modern State. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226775326. 

——— (1995). Simple Rules for a Complex World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674808218. 

——— (1998). Principles For a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty With the Common Good. Reading, Mass.: Perseus Press. 

——— (1999). Torts. Introduction to Law Series. Aspen Publishers. ISBN 9780735500471. 

———; Sunstein, Cass R. (2001). The Vote: Bush, Gore & the Supreme Court. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226213071. 

——— (2003). Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism. Studies in Law and Economics Series. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226213057. 

——— (2006). How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute. 

——— (2007). Antitrust Consent Decrees in Theory and Practice: Why Less Is More.  [1].

——— (2011). Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration, and the Rule of Law. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674061842. 

——— (2014). The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674724891.