Vice President, Americans for Prosperity
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Senior Fellow, The Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. Prior to his joining the faculty, he was a visiting law professor at NYU from 2007 through 2009. He served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2000 to 2024. Since 2024 to the present he is a senior lecturer at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas—Austin. Epstein is also the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. His initial law school appointment was at the University of Southern California from 1968 to 1972. Epstein received an LL.D., h.c. from the University of Ghent, 2003. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985 and was a Senior Fellow of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences, also from 1983. to 2022 He served as editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991-2001. From 2001 to 2010 he was a director of the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago.
His newest book, The Myth of Birthright Citizenship: What the Fourteenth Amendment Really Says was published in 2026 (Encounter Books). Prior to that he has published many books including, The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State (Roman & Littlefield 2020).Earlier he published th Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (Harvard 2014) iHis previous books include Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (Harvard 2011); The Case Against the Employee Free Choice Act (Hoover 2009); Supreme Neglect: How to Revive the Constitutional Protection of Property Rights (Oxford 2008); Antitrust Decrees in Theory and Practice: Why Less is More (AEI 2007); Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation (Yale University Press. 2006); How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution (Cato 2006); Cases and Materials on Torts (Aspen Law & Business; 8th ed. 2004); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism (University of Chicago, 2003); Torts (Aspen Law & Business 1999); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good (Perseus Books, 1998): Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Rights to Health Care (Addison-Wesley, 1997); Simple Rules for a Complex World (Harvard, 1995); Bargaining With the State (Princeton, 1993); Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws (Harvard , 1992); Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (Harvard, 1985); and Modern Products Liability Law (Greenwood Press, 1980). He has also edited(with Catherine M. Sharkey) Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts (10th edition 2012).
Professor Epstein has written numerous articles on a wide range of legal and interdisciplinary subjects. He has taught courses in administrative law, antitrust law, civil procedure, communications, constitutional law, contracts, corporations, criminal law, employment discrimination law, environmental law, food and drug law health law and policy, legal history, labor law, property, real estate development and finance, jurisprudence, labor law; land use planning, patents, individual, estate and corporate taxation, Roman Law; torts, and workers' compensation.
Professor Epstein also writes a regular column for Civitas Institute, which also sponsors his podcast, The Libertarian with Charles C.W. Cooke, and Law Talk, with Cooke and John Yoo. He also does a podcast with John Batchelor. And appears regularly on the Freedom File with Judge Andrew Napolitano.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Professor Kreis joined the Chicago-Kent faculty in 2016 from the University of Georgia, where he recently completed a Ph.D. in political science and public administration. While working toward his Ph.D., he was an instructor at the University of Georgia (2014–16), a visiting lecturer at Georgia State University (2013–16), and a visiting scholar-in-residence at Emory University School of Law (2013). During his time at the University of Georgia, he earned four prestigious teaching awards. In 2016, Professor Kreis was recognized as one of the up-and-coming academics in family law by the University of Illinois College of Law's Family Law and Policy Program, which named him a Harry Krause Emerging Scholar. He teaches legal writing at Chicago-Kent.
Professor Kreis' research focuses on the law's treatment of vulnerable persons, especially with respect to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. His research lies primarily in the areas of family law, employment discrimination, and religious liberty. His other scholarly interests include legislation/regulation, torts, civil rights, legal history, legal ethics, and judicial institutions.
Professor Kreis has published articles in several law reviews, including the Illinois Law Review, William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, New York University Review of Law & Social Change, Emory Law Journal Online, and Yale Law Journal Online. He has also contributed many articles to popular newspapers and blogs, such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, Indianapolis Star, Huffington Post, Richmond Times Dispatch, Slate, SCOTUSBlog, and Election Law Blog.
Active in law reform efforts, Professor Kreis has served as a consultant on cases and legislation related to same-sex marriage in several states and has testified numerous times before the Georgia General Assembly about issues related to marriage equality, civil rights, employment discrimination, LGBT rights, and the Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Professor Kreis has also partnered with state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal to study pressing legal challenges facing the LGBT community. From 2012 to 2014, he was political co-chair for the Atlanta Steering Committee of the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that advocates for LGBT civil rights. With the Human Rights Campaign, Professor Kreis helped to assess federal judiciary nominees' qualifications and to strategize efforts concerning judicial nominees before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In addition to his Ph.D., Professor Kreis earned a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he mentored new students as a Frederic Kirgis Fellow and was named a Local Government Attorneys of Virginia Scholar. Professor Kreis graduated with distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor's degree in political science.
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