Judge Richard Posner, one of the most influential jurists of the twentieth century —worldwide— has announced his retirement from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals after more than 50-years.
“For more than 50 years, Judge Posner has been one of the leading public intellectuals in the United States — indeed, in the world,” Chief Judge Diane P. Wood of the 7th circuit said in a statement. “He is one of the most distinguished people to ever sit on the federal bench.
Judge Posner graduated from Harvard Law School in 1962 and clerked for US Supreme Court Judge William J. Brennan Jr. for a year before joining the Federal Trade Commission as assistant to Commissioner Philip Elman. In 1965 he became assistant to Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall and became General Counsel on a Presidential task force on Telecommunications Policy, before turning 30.
A leading proponent of the law-and-economics school of thought, Judge Posner said in a statement, “I am proud to have promoted a pragmatic approach to judging during my time on the Court, and to have had the opportunity to apply my view that judicial opinions should be easy to understand and that judges should focus on the right and wrong in every case.
Despite being considered a conservative at the time of his appointment to the Appellate Court by President Ronald Reagan, during his career, Posner’s rulings and opinions in effect spanned a wide political spectrum. From supporting wider surveillance rights by law enforcement and opposing individuals’ rights to record police officers, to writing opinions in favor of same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
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