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93-529: Richard Allen Posner ( / ˈ p oʊ z n ər / ; born January 11, 1939) is an American legal scholar and retired federal judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School , Posner was identified by The Journal of Legal Studies as the most-cited legal scholar of the 20th century. As of 2021, he

186-768: A law clerk for Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 to 1963. He then served as an attorney-advisor to Commissioner Philip Elman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC); he would later argue that the FTC ought to be abolished. Posner went on to work in the Office of the Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice , under Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall . In 1968, Posner accepted

279-443: A poison pill provision that encouraged its machinists to take strike action if its pilots' takeover attempt succeeded. In 1991, Posner held that good faith performance is a factual question of the defendant's state of mind that must be proven at trial. In 1984, Posner wrote for the en banc circuit when it held that a consent decree regulating law enforcement Red Squads did not apply to FBI terrorism investigations, over

372-414: A certain degree of inherent authority to manage the matters before them, ranging from setting the dates for trials and hearings to holding parties in contempt or otherwise sanctioning them for improper behavior. In other circumstances their actions are dictated by federal law, the federal rules of procedure, or "local" rules created by the specific court system itself. The chief judge of each district court

465-550: A changing workload in that district. Although the number of Supreme Court justices has remained the same for well over a century, the number of court of appeals judges has more than doubled since 1950, and the number of district court judges has increased more than three-fold in that period. In addition, some district court judges serve on more than one court at a time. Unlike the judges of Article III courts, non-Article III judges are appointed for specified terms of office. Examples include United States magistrate judges and judges of

558-585: A claim by an Illinois dentist who slipped and fell in Acapulco , Mexico. In 2003, Posner affirmed a punitive damages award of 37.2 times the compensatory damages guests won from a bedbug infested Motel 6 . In 2003, Posner found that co-workers who did not prevent a hypoglycemic diabetic's fatal attempt to drive himself home violated no duty to rescue . In Morin Building Products Co. v. Baystone Construction, Inc. (1983), Posner held that

651-412: A debate with the philosopher Peter Singer in 2001 at Slate magazine . He agrees that "gratuitous cruelty to and neglect of animals is wrong and that some costs should be incurred to reduce the suffering of animals raised for food or other human purposes or subjected to medical or other testing and experimentation," but rejects grounding this view in an ethic of strong animal rights, contending that such

744-531: A decision that held that late term abortion was constitutionally protected in some circumstances. In November 2015, Posner authored a decision in Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin v. Schimel striking down regulations on abortion clinics in Wisconsin. He rejected the state's argument that the laws were written to protect the health of women and not to make abortion more difficult to obtain. Accusing

837-649: A district judge can hear appeals and a circuit judge can try cases). Many federal judges serve on administrative panels like the judicial council for their circuit or the Judicial Conference of the United States . Some of the larger circuit courts like the Ninth Circuit hold regular sessions at multiple locations, and randomly select three-judge panels to hear appeals from all sitting circuit judges regardless of duty station. (Videoconferencing

930-478: A federal judge. The primary function of the federal judges is to resolve matters brought before the United States federal courts. Most federal courts in the United States are courts of limited jurisdiction, meaning that they hear only cases for which jurisdiction is authorized by the United States constitution or federal statutes. Federal district courts are authorized to hear a wide range of civil and criminal cases. District court judges are recognized as having

1023-520: A fraction of the drug laws that we have. I think it's really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana." At the Cybercrime 2020: The Future of Online Crime and Investigations conference held at Georgetown University Law Center on November 20, 2014, Posner, in addition to further reinforcing his views on privacy being over-rated, stated that "If the NSA wants to vacuum all

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1116-564: A means to prevent what he views as free riding on newspaper journalism. His co-blogger Gary Becker simultaneously posted a contrasting opinion that while the Internet might hurt newspapers, it will not harm the vitality of the press, but rather embolden it. As part of a three-judge panel on the 7th Circuit weighing a challenge to the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which bars the secret recording of conversations without

1209-572: A minimum of 10 years of service (70 + 10 = 80). Under section 376 a survivor's annuity to benefit the widow, widower or minor child of the judge may be purchased via a deduction of 2.2% to 3.5% from the retirement benefit. As of 2018 there were 890 authorized Article III judgeships : nine on the Supreme Court, 179 on the courts of appeals, 677 for the US District Courts (includes territorial courts), 16 on

1302-569: A number of his opinions. In June 2016, Posner was criticized by right-wing media organizations for a column he wrote for Slate in which he stated, "I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, day, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation." He has called his approach to judging pragmatic. "I pay very little attention to legal rules, statutes, constitutional provisions. ... A case

1395-491: A particular request. (For example, emergency motions might require a response from only one judge assigned to be on duty for a particular time period, but final decisions in important cases require the whole court.) Appeals courts range in size from 6 ( First Circuit ) to 29 ( Ninth Circuit ). Some judges have specific expertise by virtue of which court they sit on. By statute, the United States Court of Appeals for

1488-551: A polymath would be a gross understatement. ... Judge Posner evidently writes the way other men breathe", though the economist describes the judge's grasp of economics as, "in some respects, ... precarious." In 1999, Posner was welcomed as a private mediator among the parties involved in the Microsoft antitrust case . A study published by Fred Shapiro in the University of Chicago's Journal of Legal Studies found that Posner

1581-424: A position teaching at Stanford Law School . In 1969, Posner moved to the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School , where he remains a senior lecturer. He was a founding editor of The Journal of Legal Studies in 1972. On October 27, 1981, Posner was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated by Judge Philip Willis Tone . Posner

1674-457: A premise entails conclusions inconsistent with the reality of human society and psychology. He further states that people whose opinions were changed by consideration of the philosophical arguments presented in Singer's book Animal Liberation failed to see the "radicalism of the ethical vision that powers [their] view on animals, an ethical vision that finds greater value in a healthy pig than in

1767-429: A profoundly retarded child, that commands inflicting a lesser pain on a human being to avert a greater pain to a dog, and that, provided only that a chimpanzee has 1 percent of the mental ability of a normal human being, would require the sacrifice of the human being to save 101 chimpanzees." Posner emphasizes the importance of facts over arguments in creating social change. He states that his moral intuition says that "it

1860-505: A relatively unique internet presence that includes wiki and RSS feeds of opinions and oral arguments. It is also notable for having one of the most prominent law and economics scholars, Judge Frank Easterbrook , on its court. Richard Posner , another prominent law and economics scholar, also served on this court until his retirement in 2017. Three judges from the Seventh Circuit, Sherman Minton , John Paul Stevens , and Amy Coney Barrett , have been appointed as Associate Justices of

1953-606: A stepping stone to a lucrative position in private practice, the Framers' goal of a truly independent judiciary will be placed in serious jeopardy." Each federal judge serves at a particular "duty station" for the duration of their federal service. This is important because of the relationship among several federal statutes. First, 28 U.S.C. § 456(a) entitles federal judges to reimbursement of transportation and "subsistence" expenses incurred while transacting official business away from their duty stations. Section 456 also prescribes that

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2046-478: A wide variety of current events including the 2000 presidential election recount controversy, Bill Clinton 's affair with Monica Lewinsky and his resulting impeachment procedure, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq . His analysis of the Lewinsky scandal cut across most party and ideological divisions. Posner's greatest influence is through his writings on law and economics; The New York Times called him "one of

2139-405: Is 85, a full standard deviation below the white average, and the average Hispanic IQ has been estimated recently at 89. Black children in particular often come from disordered households, which has a negative effect on ability to learn and perhaps indeed on IQ. ... Increasingly, black and Hispanic students find themselves in schools with few white or Asian students. The challenge to American education

2232-459: Is also the most-cited legal scholar of all time. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential legal scholars in the United States. Posner is known for his scholarly range and for writing on topics outside of law. In his various writings and books, he has addressed animal rights , feminism , drug prohibition , same-sex marriage , Keynesian economics , law and literature , and academic moral philosophy , among other subjects. Posner

2325-438: Is arbitrary and in contrast with major traditional and contemporary philosophies (including the theology of Thomas Aquinas for one and utilitarianism for another). In addition, he points out that this basis for rights has problematic implications—including that it might soon make some computers more worthy of rights than some humans, a conclusion he calls absurd. Posner goes on to reason that granting human-like rights to animals

2418-536: Is faulty to impose uniform educational standards on all schools. His view in this regard is undergirded by his view that different races differ in intelligence. (However, Posner says that he thinks it is "highly unlikely" that these differences are rooted in genetics, rather than environment.) In a blog post, Posner wrote, "I suggest that the only worthwhile reforms of teacher compensation are raising teacher wages uniformly, providing recognition and modest bonuses for outstanding teachers, and increasing hiring standards." In

2511-573: Is fraught with implications which could radically disrupt or devalue the rights of human beings. He alludes to Hitler's zoophilia as evidence that respect for animals and humaneness toward human beings are not necessarily associated. Arguing that the analogy of animal rights to the civil rights movement lacks imagination and is not very apt, Posner posits that animal welfare might be better protected by other legal models, one example of which would be stronger laws making animals property, since, he asserts, people tend to protect what they own. Posner engaged in

2604-519: Is just a dispute. The first thing you do is ask yourself—forget about the law—what is a sensible resolution of this dispute? The next thing ... is to see if a recent Supreme Court precedent or some other legal obstacle stood in the way of ruling in favor of that sensible resolution. And the answer is that's actually rarely the case. When you have a Supreme Court case or something similar, they're often extremely easy to get around." Posner has written several opinions sympathetic to abortion rights , including

2697-489: Is responsible for overseeing assignments of judges to cases, following a written policy. For reasons of impartiality, this is typically done by a random drawing or rotation. Judges may also be assigned particular types of cases based on their technical expertise or assigned to cases in a specific geographic location. Appeals courts and the Supreme Court use similar systems, but depending on the type of filing, may assign one, three, all, or some other number of judges to deal with

2790-446: Is sometimes now used to reduce the burden of frequent travel on circuit judges.) The discipline process of federal judges is initiated by the filing of a complaint by any person alleging that a judge has engaged in conduct "prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts, or alleging that such judge is unable to discharge all the duties of the office by reason of mental or physical disability." If

2883-411: Is the author of nearly 40 books on jurisprudence , economics, and several other topics, including Economic Analysis of Law , The Economics of Justice , The Problems of Jurisprudence , Sex and Reason , Law, Pragmatism and Democracy , and The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy . Posner has generally been identified as being politically conservative; in recent years, however, he has distanced himself from

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2976-474: Is the most-cited legal scholar of all time by a considerable margin, as Posner's work has generated 7,981 cites compared to the runner-up Ronald Dworkin 's 4,488 cites. In 2021, Shapiro found that Posner maintained his position as the most cited legal scholar and grew his lead, generating 48,852 cites to runner-up Cass Sunstein 's 35,584. Aside from the sheer volume of his output, Posner's opinions enjoy great respect from other judges, based on citations, and within

3069-423: Is to provide a useful education to the large number of Americans who are unlikely to benefit from a college education or from high school courses aimed at preparing students for college." In September 2014, Posner authored the opinions in the consolidated cases of Wolf v. Walker and Baskin v. Bogan challenging Wisconsin and Indiana's state level same-sex marriage bans. The opinion of the three-judge panel on

3162-403: Is wrong to give as much weight to a dog's pain as to an infant's pain," and that "[this] is a moral intuition deeper than any reason that could be given for it and impervious to any reason that you or anyone could give against it." Instead, Posner claims that "[expanding and invigorating] the laws that protect animals will require not philosophical arguments for reducing human beings to the level of

3255-649: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 . Posner found that secondary liability attaches to a file sharing service for contributory copyright infringement in In re Aimster Copyright Litigation (2003). United States federal judge [REDACTED] [REDACTED] In the United States , a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of

3348-593: The Austrian Empire . After high school, Posner studied English literature at Yale University , graduating in 1959 with a B.A. , summa cum laude , and membership in Phi Beta Kappa . He then attended Harvard Law School , where he was president of the Harvard Law Review . He graduated in 1962 ranked first in his class with an LL.B. , magna cum laude . After law school, Posner was

3441-491: The Chief Justice of the United States . Chief Justice John Roberts has repeatedly pleaded for an increase in judicial pay, calling the situation "a constitutional crisis that threatens to undermine the strength and independence of the federal judiciary". For some partners at leading law firms , especially in major metropolitan areas, becoming a federal judge can represent a more than 90 percent pay cut. Associates at

3534-484: The Supreme Court . As of August 31, 2024 : Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their circuits, and preside over any panel on which they serve, unless the circuit justice (the Supreme Court justice responsible for the circuit) is also on the panel. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among

3627-462: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces , the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims , the U.S. Tax Court , and other " Article One tribunals ". Nor does it apply to the administrative law judges of federal government agencies. Although these judges serve on courts of the federal government, they do not have life tenure, and their authority derives from Congress via Article One of

3720-550: The Uniform Commercial Code presumes contracts impose an objective standard upon what would subjectively be illusory promises . In 1987, Posner dissented when Judge Frank H. Easterbrook , joined by Richard Dickson Cudahy , found that a stockbroker could sue his former employer under SEC Rule 10b-5 after he quit shortly before the firm's lucrative unannounced merger. In 1990, Posner found that Delaware corporate law did not permit an airline's board from adopting

3813-506: The United States bankruptcy courts , United States Tax Court , United States Court of Federal Claims , and United States territorial courts . Although the term "non-Article III judges" is used to describe the absence of tenure and salary protection, bankruptcy courts are formally designated as divisions of U.S. District Courts, whose district judges are Article III judicial officers. Moreover, in Freytag v. Commissioner , 501 U.S. 868 (1991),

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3906-445: The chief judge of the circuit does not dismiss the complaint or conclude the proceedings, then they must promptly appoint himself or herself, along with equal numbers of circuit judges and district judges, to a special committee to investigate the facts and allegations in the complaint. The committee must conduct such investigation as it finds necessary and then expeditiously file a comprehensive written report of its investigation with

3999-496: The judicial council of the circuit involved. Upon receipt of such a report, the judicial council of the circuit involved may conduct any additional investigation it deems necessary, and it may dismiss the complaint. If a judge who is the subject of a complaint holds their office during good behavior, action taken by the judicial council may include certifying disability of the judge. The judicial council may also, in its discretion, refer any complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 351, along with

4092-409: The rule of law is an accidental and dispensable element of legal ideology," his argument that buying and selling children on the free market would lead to better outcomes than the present situation, government-regulated adoption , and his support for the legalization of marijuana and LSD . Posner on Posner Series Judge Posner was the focus of a "series" of posts (many Q&A interviews with

4185-551: The 2014 cases that the same-sex marriage bans were both "a tradition of hate" and "savage discrimination". Posner wrote the opinion for the unanimous panel, finding the laws unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause . The Supreme Court then denied a writ of certiorari and left Posner's ruling to stand. When reviewing Alan Dershowitz 's book, Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to

4278-514: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Indiana and Wisconsin 's bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, affirming a lower court ruling. During oral arguments, Wisconsin's attorney general cited tradition as a reason for maintaining the ban, prompting Posner to note that: "It was tradition to not allow blacks and whites to marry—a tradition that got swept away." Though Posner argued in his 1992 book Sex and Reason that prohibitions against gay marriage were rationally justified, he held in

4371-592: The Challenge , Posner wrote in the September 2002 The New Republic , "If torture is the only means of obtaining the information necessary to prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Times Square , torture should be used – and will be used – to obtain the information.... No one who doubts that this is the case should be in a position of responsibility." In 2007, Posner wrote

4464-780: The Constitution , not independently via Article Three. These judges are often known as "Article One judges". According to the Appointments Clause of Article Two of the U.S. Constitution , all federal judges, including the judges of the Supreme Court and inferior federal courts created by the Congress, shall be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The Constitution does not provide any eligibility criteria – such as age, literacy , citizenship , legal education , legal/ bar or any professional certification , and legal/judicial experience – for one to be appointed as

4557-618: The District of Columbia is the duty station of all members of the U.S. Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit, the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Second, there are several reasons federal judges need to transact official business outside of their regular courthouse. 28 U.S.C. §§ 291 and 292 authorize a broad variety of temporary reassignments of circuit and district judges, both horizontally (i.e., to other circuits or districts) and vertically (so that

4650-658: The Federal Circuit has exclusive appellate jurisdiction for patents, trademarks, and certain employee benefits. Because it geographically covers the headquarters of federal agencies, the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit gain special expertise in administrative and constitutional law. Section 1 of Article Three of the U.S. Constitution provides that federal judges "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour". This clause has long been interpreted to give federal judges life tenure . Federal judges hold their seats until they resign, die, or are removed from office by impeachment . Although

4743-536: The Judge) done by University of Washington Law Professor Ronald K. L. Collins . The twelve posts—collectively titled "Posner on Posner"—began on November 24, 2014, and ended on January 5, 2015, and appeared on the Concurring Opinions blog. In Posner's youth and in the 1960s as law clerk to William J. Brennan, he was generally counted as a liberal . However, in reaction to some of the perceived excesses of

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4836-578: The Republican Party started becoming goofy." Among Posner's judicial influences are the American jurists Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and Learned Hand ; he has written that "Holmes is the greatest jurist ... because the sum of his ideas, metaphors, decisions, dissents and other contributions exceeds the sum of contributions of any other jurist of modern times", and he has applied the Hand formula in

4929-418: The Seventh Circuit over treatment of pro se litigants. Posner is a pragmatist in philosophy and an economist in legal methodology . He has written many articles and books on a wide range of topics including law and economics, law and literature, the federal judiciary, moral theory , intellectual property , antitrust law , public intellectuals, and legal history . He is also well known for writing on

5022-610: The Supreme Court concluded that the judges of the U.S. Tax Court (and their special trial judges) exercise a portion of "the judicial power of the United States." United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The court is based at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago and is composed of eleven appellate judges. It is one of 13 United States courts of appeals . The court offers

5115-477: The U.S. Constitution . Often called " Article III judges ", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court , circuit judges of the U.S. Courts of Appeals , district judges of the U.S. District Courts , and judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade . Federal judges are not elected officials , unlike the president and vice president and U.S. senators and representatives . Instead, they are nominated by

5208-589: The US Court of Federal Claims* and nine on the Court of International Trade . The total number of active federal judges is constantly in flux, for two reasons. First, judges retire or die, and a lapse of time occurs before new judges are appointed to fill those positions. Second, from time to time Congress will increase (or, less frequently, decrease) the number of federal judgeships in a particular judicial district, usually in response to shifting population numbers or

5301-406: The United States. Posner is "one of the founding fathers of Bluebook abolitionism, having advocated it for almost twenty-five years, ever since his 1986 University of Chicago Law Review article on the subject." In a 2011 Yale Law Journal article, he wrote: The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation exemplifies hypertrophy in the anthropological sense. It is a monstrous growth, remote from

5394-528: The appendix is about 2–3 pages long, and he says the entire manual is about 1% as long as the Bluebook. Posner opposes the U.S. " War on Drugs " and called it " quixotic ". In a 2003 CNBC interview he discussed the difficulty of enforcing criminal marijuana laws, and asserted that it is hard to justify the criminalization of marijuana when compared to other substances. In a talk at Elmhurst College in 2012, Posner said that "I don't think that we should have

5487-475: The chief judge was the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire, on what has since 1958 been known as senior status , or declined to serve as chief judge. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982. The court has eleven seats for active judges, numbered in the order in which they were initially filled. Judges who assume senior status enter

5580-465: The circuit judges. To be chief, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as chief judge. A vacancy is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges, with seniority determined first by commission date, then by age. The chief judge serves for a term of seven years, or until age 70, whichever occurs first. If no judge qualifies to be chief,

5673-563: The consent of all the parties to the conversation, Posner was to deliver another memorable quote. At issue was the constitutionality of the Illinois wiretapping law, which makes it illegal to record someone without consent even when filming public acts like arrests in public. Posner interrupted the ACLU after just 14 words, stating, "Yeah, I know. But I'm not interested, really, in what you want to do with these recordings of peoples' encounters with

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5766-514: The dissent of Judge Richard Dickson Cudahy . In January 2001, Posner loosened that consent decree to allow the Chicago Police Department to conduct counterterrorism operations. In United States v. Marshall (1990), Posner dissented when Frank H. Easterbrook , writing for the en banc circuit, held that the punishment for possession of LSD is determined by the weight of the carrier it is found within. The circuit's judgment

5859-536: The essential end goal of any antitrust policy. Posner's and Bork's theories on antitrust evolved into the prevailing view in academia and at the Justice Department in the George H. W. Bush administration; they have remained the consensus view in both the Justice Department and among legal academics of antitrust. The Bluebook is the style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in

5952-440: The financial blow is to spend only a few years on the bench and then return to private practice or go into private arbitration, but such turnover creates a risk of a revolving door judiciary subject to regulatory capture . Roberts has warned that "judges are no longer drawn primarily from among the best lawyers in the practicing bar" and "If judicial appointment ceases to be the capstone of a distinguished career and instead becomes

6045-417: The functional need for legal citation forms, that serves obscure needs of the legal culture and its student subculture. He describes those needs as unrelated to practical legal activity but instead as social and political. In the same article, Posner gives an excerpt of the entire citation style guide included (as an appendix) in the short manual he gives his own law clerks (whom he describes as "very smart");

6138-497: The largest U.S. law firms with judicial clerkship experience already earn as much as a federal judge in their first year as full-time associates. When those attorneys eventually become experienced partners and reach the stage in life where one would normally consider switching to public service, their interest in joining the judiciary is tempered by the prospect of a giant pay cut back to what they were making 10 to 20 years earlier (adjusted for inflation). One way for attorneys to soften

6231-444: The late 1960s, Posner developed a strongly conservative bent. He encountered Chicago School economists Aaron Director and George Stigler while a professor at Stanford . Posner summarized his views on law and economics in his 1973 book The Economic Analysis of Law . Today, although generally viewed as to the right in academia, Posner's pragmatism , his qualified moral relativism and moral skepticism , and his affection for

6324-441: The legal academy, where his opinions are taught in many foundational law courses. In his decision in the 1997 case State Oil Co. v. Khan , Posner wrote that a ruling 1968 antitrust precedent set by the Supreme Court was "moth-eaten", "wobbly", and "unsound". Nevertheless, he abided by the previous decision in his ruling. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and overturned the 1968 ruling unanimously; Sandra Day O'Connor wrote

6417-839: The legal orthodoxy is that judges cannot be removed from office except by Congressional impeachment, several legal scholars, including William Rehnquist , Saikrishna Prakash , and Steven D. Smith, have argued that the Good Behavior Clause may, in theory, permit removal by way of a writ of scire facias filed before a federal court, without resort to impeachment. Deaths of United States federal judges in active service may also have profound political and procedural effects, as such circumstances present substantially less opportunity for preparation for an orderly succession. As of 2024, federal judges' annual salaries are: $ 246,300 for district judges, $ 257,900 for circuit judges, $ 298,500 for associate Supreme Court justices , and $ 312,200 for

6510-601: The majority opinion upholding Indiana's photo identification law in the Crawford v. Marion County Election Board case. He wrote that "absence of prosecutions" for voter fraud is explained in part by "the extreme difficulty of apprehending a voter impersonator," and that such impersonators are "almost impossible to catch without a voter ID requirement". The law was subsequently upheld at the United States Supreme Court . In 2013, Posner disavowed support for

6603-407: The moral irrelevance of species membership). He recognizes the philosophical force of arguments for strong animal rights, but maintains that human intuition about the paramount value of human life makes it impossible to accommodate an ethic of strong animal rights. Posner, a self-avowed moral anti-realist, does not present his critique of strong animal rights as a deductive proof. Instead, he highlights

6696-463: The most important antitrust scholars of the past half-century." In December 2004, Posner started a joint blog with Nobel Prize -winning economist Gary Becker , titled simply "The Becker-Posner Blog". Both men contributed to the blog until shortly before Becker's death in May 2014, after which Posner announced that the blog was being discontinued. He also had a blog at The Atlantic , where he discussed

6789-462: The opinion and spoke positively of both Posner's criticism and his decision to abide by the ruling until the Court decided to change it. In U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Jadranska Slobodna Plovidba , 683 F.2d 1022 (7th Cir. 1982), Posner revived Learned Hand's economic efficiency theory of negligence law . In Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. v. American Cyanamid Co. (1990), Posner lowered

6882-484: The optimal patent protection for an inventor. When patent protection is too strongly in favor of the inventor, market efficiency is decreased. He illustrates his argument by comparing the pharmaceutical industry (where the cost of invention is high) with the software industry (where the cost of invention is relatively low). However, Posner suggested that strengthening copyright law, including a possible bar on linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials, may be necessary as

6975-448: The other animals but facts, facts that will stimulate a greater empathetic response to animal suffering and facts that will alleviate concern about the human costs of further measures to reduce animal suffering." Along with Robert Bork , Posner helped shape the antitrust policy changes of the 1970s through his idea that 1960s antitrust laws were in fact making prices higher for the consumer rather than lower, while he viewed lower prices as

7068-621: The police. ..." Posner continued: "Once all this stuff can be recorded, there's going to be a lot more of this snooping around by reporters and bloggers. ... I'm always suspicious when the civil liberties people start telling the police how to do their business." The 7th Circuit upheld the challenge, 2–1, striking down the Eavesdropping Act, but Posner wrote a dissenting opinion. In a dissent from an earlier ruling by his protégé Frank Easterbrook , Posner wrote that Easterbrook's decision that female guards could watch male prisoners while in

7161-570: The positions of the Republican Party, authoring more liberal rulings involving same-sex marriage and abortion . In A Failure of Capitalism , he writes that the 2007–2008 financial crisis caused him to question the rational-choice , laissez-faire economic model that lies at the heart of his law and economics theory. Posner was born on January 11, 1939, in New York City . His father's family were of Romanian Jewish descent, and his mother's family were Ashkenazi Jews from Galicia in

7254-457: The practical importance of intuition and emotion over abstract argument. In a 2000 Yale Law Journal book review on the title "Rattling the Cage" by Steven M. Wise , Posner again criticized the legal notion of animal rights. In the review, Posner argues that Wise's approach, using the cognitive ability of animals compared to that of very young normal human beings as a basis for rights-worthiness,

7347-399: The president and confirmed by the Senate. The Constitution gives federal judges life tenure , and they hold their seats until they die, resign, or are removed from office through impeachment . Strictly speaking, the term "federal judge" does not include U.S. magistrate judges or the judges of lesser federal tribunals such as the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts , the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ,

7440-418: The record of any associated proceedings and its recommendations for appropriate action, to the Judicial Conference of the United States . The Judicial Conference may exercise its authority under the judicial discipline provisions as a conference, or through a standing committee appointed by the chief justice. Judges who meet their age and service requirements may retire and will then earn their final salary for

7533-691: The remainder of their life, plus cost-of-living increases. The "Rule of 80" is the commonly used shorthand for the age and service requirement for a judge to retire, or assume senior status , as set forth in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, section 371(c). Beginning at age 65, judges may retire at their current salary, or take senior status, after performing 15 years of active service as an Article III judge (65 + 15 = 80). A sliding scale of increasing age and decreasing service (66 + 14, 67 + 13, 68 + 12, 69 + 11) results in eligibility for retirement compensation at age 70 with

7626-678: The ruling due to concerns about voter suppression caused by the law. He stated that judges "weren’t given the information that would enable that balance to be struck" between preventing fraud and protecting voters’ rights. In 2014, Posner wrote a 30-page dissent opposing the upholding of a Wisconsin voter ID law. Posner is one of the most prolific legal writers, through both the number and topical breadth of his opinions, to say nothing of his scholarly and popular writings. Unlike many other judges, he writes all his own opinions. Nobel Laureate economist Robert Solow says that Posner "is an apparently inexhaustible writer on ... nearly everything. To call him

7719-508: The same post, he wrote, "I am not clear what we should think the problem of American education (below the college level) is. Most children of middle-class ... Americans are white or Asian and attend good public or private schools, usually predominantly white. The average white IQ is of course 100 and the Asian (like the Jewish) almost one standard deviation higher, that is, 115. The average black IQ

7812-429: The shower or bathroom must stem from a belief that prisoners are "members of a different species, indeed as a type of vermin , devoid of human dignity and entitled to no respect. ... I do not myself consider the 1.5 million inmates of American prisons and jails in that light." Posner's views of public education policy are informed by his view that groups of students differ in intellectual ability, and therefore, that it

7905-550: The standard of legal liability a railroad faced for a hazardous waste spill. The case became a staple of first year torts courses taught in American law schools , where the case is used to address the question of when it is better to use negligence liability or strict liability . In 1999, Posner applied the lex loci delicti commissi rule on choice of law rather than the Restatement of Torts, Second when rejecting

7998-404: The state of indirectly trying to ban abortions in the state Posner wrote, "They [Wisconsin] may do this in the name of protecting the health of women who have abortions, yet as in this case the specific measures they support may do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion." Posner rejects an ethic of strong animal rights on pragmatic grounds (where such an ethic posits

8091-511: The then-current Great Recession . Posner was mentioned in 2005 as a potential nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor because of his prominence as a scholar and an appellate judge. Robert S. Boynton wrote in The Washington Post that he believed Posner would never sit on the Supreme Court because despite his "obvious brilliance," he would be criticized for his occasionally "outrageous conclusions," such as his contention "that

8184-425: The thought of Friedrich Nietzsche set him apart from most American conservatives. As a judge, with the exception of his rulings with respect to the sentencing guidelines and the recording of police actions, Posner's judicial votes have always placed him on the moderate-to-liberal wing of the Republican Party, where he has become more isolated over time. In July 2012, Posner stated, "I've become less conservative since

8277-413: The thought that a company would be permitted to manufacture an electronic product that the government would not be able to search" he said. Posner has expressed concerns, on the blog he contributed to with Gary Becker, that both patent and copyright protection, though particularly the former, may be excessive. He argues that the cost of inventing must be compared to the cost of copying in order to determine

8370-563: The trillions of bits of information that are crawling through the electronic worldwide networks, I think that's fine. ... Much of what passes for the name of privacy is really just trying to conceal the disreputable parts of your conduct," Posner added. "Privacy is mainly about trying to improve your social and business opportunities by concealing the sorts of bad activities that would cause other people not to want to deal with you." Posner also criticized mobile OS companies for enabling end-to-end encryption in their newest software. "I'm shocked at

8463-410: The youngest judge over the age of 65 who has served on the court for at least one year shall act as chief until another judge qualifies. If no judge has served on the court for more than a year, the most senior judge shall act as chief. Judges can forfeit or resign their chief judgeship or acting chief judgeship while retaining their active status as a circuit judge. When the office was created in 1948,

8556-515: Was affirmed, under the name Chapman v. United States (1991), by the Supreme Court of the United States . In 1995, Posner, joined by Judge Walter J. Cummings Jr. , affirmed an injunction blocking Illinois from closing schools on Good Friday as a violation of the Establishment Clause , over the dissent of Judge Daniel Anthony Manion . In 2000, Posner found that partners at a big law firm could be considered employees with regard to

8649-513: Was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 24, 1981, and received his commission on December 1, 1981. He served as Chief Judge of that court from 1993 to 2000 but remained a part-time professor at the University of Chicago . Judge Posner retired from the federal bench on September 2, 2017. Posner stated that he had originally planned to retire at the age of 80, but instead retired at 78 due to disputes with other judges on

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