Eric Posner

Eric Posner
Born	December 5, 1965 (1965-12-05)
Residence	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Nationality	United States
Fields	International law
Institutions	University of Chicago Law School
Alma mater	Yale University Harvard Law School
Known for	The Limits of International Law (2005; with Jack Goldsmith).

Eric Andrew Posner (born December 5, 1965) is Kirkland and Ellis Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the son of the prominent federal appellate judge Richard Posner.

Education and clerkship

Posner attended Yale University (B.A., M.A. in philosophy, summa cum laude) and received his law degree from Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude) in 1991. He clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the D.C. Circuit.

Career

He is also an editor of The Journal of Legal Studies. He has published articles on various subjects, including international law, cost-benefit analysis, and constitutional law, and has taught courses on subjects including international law, foreign relations law, and game theory and the law.

His current research focuses on international law, foreign relations law, and international tribunals. He has written about the trial of the deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. In Terror in the Balance: Security, Liberty, and the Courts (2007), he argued that courts should be more deferential to executive action during emergencies than during normal times.

Select writings

Books

• Contract Law and Theory (Aspen 2011) ISBN 1454810718
• The Executive Unbound: After the Madisonian Republic (Oxford University Press 2011) ISBN 0199765332
• Climate Change Justice (Princeton University Press 2010) (with David Weisbach) ISBN 0691137757
• Law and Happiness (University of Chicago Press 2010) ISBN 0226676005
• Perils of Global Legalism (University of Chicago Press 2009) ISBN 0226675742
• Terror in the Balance: Security, Liberty, and the Courts (Oxford University Press 2007) (with Adrian Vermeule). ISBN 019531025X
• The Limits of International Law (Oxford University Press 2005) (with Jack Goldsmith). ISBN 0195168399
• Law and Social Norms (Harvard University Press 2000). ISBN 0674008146

Articles

• "Is the International Court of Justice Biased?," J. Legal Stud. (forthcoming) (with Miguel de Figueiredo).
• "An Economic Analysis of State and Individual Responsibility Under International Law", Amer. L. & Econ. Rev. (forthcoming; with Alan Sykes)
• "International Law: A Welfarist Approach", 73 U. Chi. L. Rev. 487 (2006)
• "International Law and the Rise of China", 7 Chi. J. Int’l L. 1 (2006; with John Yoo)
• "International Law and the Disaggregated State", 32 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 797 (2005)
• "Terrorism and the Laws of War", 5 Chi. J. Int’l L. 423 (2005)
• "Optimal War and Jus ad Bellum", 93 Georgetown L.J. 993 (2005) (with Alan Sykes)
• "Judicial Independence in International Tribunals", 93 Calif. L. Rev. 1 (2005; with John Yoo)
• "Transnational Legal Process and the Supreme Court’s 2003–2004 Term: Some Skeptical Observations", 12 Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law 23 (2004)
• "A Theory of the Laws of War", 70 U. Chi. L. Rev. 297 (2003)
• "Do States Have a Moral Obligation to Comply with International Law?", 55 Stan. L. Rev. 1901 (2003)
• "Moral and Legal Rhetoric in International Relations: A Rational Choice Perspective", 31 J. Legal Stud. S115 (2002; with Jack Goldsmith)
• "Understanding the Resemblance Between Modern and Traditional Customary International Law", 40 Va. J. Int’l Law 639 (2000; with Jack L. Goldsmith)

Newspaper columns

• "A Threat That Belongs Behind Bars," The New York Times, June 25, 2006
• "Apply the Golden Rule to al Qaeda?", The Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2006, p. A9

External links

• University of Chicago Law School biography
• EricPosner.com
• CV
• Video (and audio) of debates and discussions involving Eric Posner on Bloggingheads.tv
• Facebook page
• Blog
• In Depth interview with Posner, June 5, 2011