Cass Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein (b. 1954) is a prominent liberal law professor at the University of Chicago. He graduated in 1975 from Harvard College and in 1978 from Harvard Law School magna cum laude. He then clerked first for Justice Benjamin Kaplan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and secondly for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Related Topics:
1954 - Liberal - Law - Professor - University of Chicago - 1975 - Harvard College - 1978 - Harvard Law School - Clerked - Benjamin Kaplan - Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court - Thurgood Marshall

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His 2001 book, Republic.com, argued that the Internet threatens democracy because it allows citizens to isolate themselves within groups that share their own views and experiences, and thus cut themselves off from any information that might challenge their beliefs, a phenomenon often known by the term cyberbalkanization. His other books include After the Rights Revolution (1990), The Partial Constitution (1993), Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict (1996), Free Markets and Social Justice (1997), One Case at a Time (1999), Risk and Reason (2002), Why Societies Need Dissent (2003), and Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (2005). Sunstein is a proponent of judicial minimalism, arguing that judges should focus primarily on deciding the case at hand, and avoid making sweeping changes to the law or decisions that have broad-reaching effects.

Related Topics:
2001 - Internet - Democracy - Cyberbalkanization - Judicial minimalism

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Despite his reputation as a liberal legal academic, Professor Sunstein has publicly supported various of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees, including Michael McConnell and John Roberts.

Related Topics:
President George W. Bush - Judicial nominees - Michael McConnell - John Roberts

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One of his latest books, The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever (2004), discusses the little-known Second Bill of Rights proposed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the Second Bill of Rights, Roosevelt proposed a right to an education, a right to a home, a right to health care, a right to protection against monopolies, and more; Sunstein argues that the Second Bill of Rights has had a large international impact and should be revived in the United States.

Related Topics:
Second Bill of Rights - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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Sunstein is a contributing editor to The New Republic and is a frequent witness before congressional commitees; he played an active role in opposing the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998. He has been romantically linked to Chicago philosopher Martha Nussbaum.

Related Topics:
The New Republic - Chicago - Philosopher - Martha Nussbaum

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In recent years, Sunstein has taken spots guest blogging on the Volokh Conspiracy and the weblog of Lawrence Lessig. His forthcoming book, Mobs and Markets (Oxford University Press 2006, now in final stages), explores methods for aggregating information; it contains discussions of prediction markets, open source software, and wikis (with substantial attention to Wikipedia).

Related Topics:
Blog - Volokh Conspiracy - Lawrence Lessig

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