Judge Richard Posner passed away today.
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Posner → pass → ?
His contributions across a wide range of fields are so great, that no obituary can possibly do them justice.
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obituary → do → justice
His book Economic Analysis of Law, (which has gone through numerous editions since the first one in 1972), was and is the best overview of the field.
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which → go → field
His classic articles on antitrust law, regulations, the economics of common law, and many related issues were pathbreaking applications of economics to law that continue to influence economists, legal scholars, and policymakers even many decades later.
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that → continue → economists
In addition to his many contributions to law and economics, Posner also published enormously influential books and articles on a dizzying array of other issues.
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Posner → publish → issues
I can only mention a few here.
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I → mention → few
How Judges Think and Reflections on Judging shed light on a variety of issues relating to judicial behavior, and legal philosophy.
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Judges → think → behavior
This list of pathbreaking Posner works can be extended almost endlessly!
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list → extend → works
Posner became a federal appellate judge in 1981 (appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit).
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Posner → become → Circuit
There, he became perhaps the most influential federal lower court judge of his time, writing a variety of highly influential opinions.
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he → become → opinions
He was famous in legal circles for drafting almost all of his opinions himself, rarely relying on law clerks to do it.
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He → draft → it
A few of my own experiences with Posner and his work may shed some small additional light on the man and his achievements.
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few → shed → man
As a first-year law student, I was required to take an early-morning Contracts class.
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I → require → class
Not being a morning person, I periodically overslept and missed class (Posner, I'm sure, would never have done such a thing!).
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I → oversleep → thing
As a result, I was confused about some issues when final exam time came around.
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time → come → issues
The class textbook was only of limited help in clearing up my confusion.
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textbook → clear → confusion
So I decided to read the contracts chapter of Economic Analysis of Law.
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I → decide → Law
In a relatively few pages, Posner made everything much clearer, and I came to a much better understanding of a wide range of contracts issues than I had before, from studying the much longer textbook.
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I → make → textbook
Thanks to Posner, I did much better on the exam than I had any right to expect.
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I → do → right
He had a gift for distilling complex issues of law and public policy and making them readily understandable even to late-sleeping slackers!
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them → have → slackers
Usually, when courts cite legal precedents, they do not indicate the name of the judge who wrote the decision.
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who → cite → decision
But our judge - who is more conservative than Posner and has a very different judicial philosophy - made clear that, in citing a Posner opinion, I should make sure to indicate Posner was the author.
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Posner → have → opinion
It's a small, but telling, indication of the respect Posner commanded from jurists across the political and jurisprudential spectrum.
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Posner → command → spectrum
One of the more difficult duties of academic journal editors is dealing with peer reviewers, who often procrastinate, submit inadequate reviews, or both.
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who → deal → reviews
One time, on a Friday afternoon, I e-mailed Posner an article submission, asking him to review it.
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I → e → it
Still, on Saturday morning, I woke up to find a message from Posner in my e-mail inbox.
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I → wake → inbox
I expected the message would indicate whether he accepted the assignment or not.
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he → expect → assignment
But, instead, I found an extremely thorough and insightful review of the article I had sent him - one of the best peer review reports I have ever seen.
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I → find → reports
In addition to his many other achievements and talents, Posner was extraordinarily hard-working and efficient.
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Posner → work → achievements
He made most of the rest of us seem lazy and indolent by comparison.
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most → make → comparison
I was privileged to know Posner over a period of many years, though we interacted only occasionally.
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we → know → years
Most of my professional writings related to his work
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Most → relate → work
were critical, as in the case of my review of his book Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy, (to which he wrote a solid response, and I in turn a short rejoinder by me), and my criticism (in my book The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain) of his defense of the Supreme Court's controversial ruling in Kelo v. City of New London.
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I → write → London
In retrospect, I fear these writings did not always sufficiently convey the enormous respect - even awe - that I had for Posner's many achievements.
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I → fear → achievements
But I did support his longstanding campaign to get rid of the Bluebook, the ridiculously overcomplicated system of legal citation.
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I → support → citation
But I was happy to follow Posner in making an exception for the Bluebook!
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I → follow → Bluebook
For a time, we even collaborated in an effort to persuade law journal editors to rethink the system.
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we → collaborate → system
Much, much more can be said.
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more → say → ?
No words of mine can even come close to doing justice to Judge Posner's many achievements, or to his generosity to students and younger colleagues, of which my own experiences with him, were just small examples.
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experiences → come → him
Thus, I will close by offering my profound condolences to those of his friends, family, and colleagues, who might read this post.
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who → close → post
The Aporia
