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Richard Epstein
Biography
Richard A. Epstein is a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute. He is also the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, where he serves as a Director of the Classical Liberal Institute, which he helped found in 2013. He has served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow (adjunct) at the Hoover Institution since 2000. Epstein is also the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago.
A recipient of the Bradley Prize for outstanding achievement in 2011, Epstein researches and writes in a broad range of constitutional, economic, historical, and philosophical subjects. He has taught administrative law, antitrust law, communications law, constitutional law, corporation criminal law, employment discrimination law, environmental law, food and drug law, health law, labor law, Roman law, real estate development and finance, and individual and corporate taxation. Epstein has written more than fifty books, they include, The Dubious Morality of Modern Administrative Law (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020), and The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (Harvard University Press, 2014, 2017). Epstein holds B.A.s from Columbia University and Oxford University and an LL.B. from Yale Law School.
Richard Epstein

Surf’s Up: Roman Law and Beach Houses
Episode 4 of The Libertarian with Richard Epstein and Charles C.W. Cooke

Law Talk: The Great Birthright Citizen Debate
Charles C.W. Cooke moderates a spirited debate between John Yoo and Richard Epstein on the constitutional meaning and historical origins of birthright citizenship.

Israel vs. New York Times
Episode 3 of The Libertarian with Richard Epstein and Charles C.W. Cooke.

Richard Epstein on Property Rights, Law and Economics
Richard Epstein on his career as a legal scholar, the takings clause, state monopoly power, Richard’s property-driven theory of constitutional interpretation, the Coase theorem, and classical liberalism versus anarcho-capitalism.

Law Talk’s 2025 Supreme Court Recap
Richard Epstein, John Yoo, and Charles C.W. Cooke unpack one of the most consequential Supreme Court terms in recent memory.
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Epstein & Yoo: Amicus Brief in Supreme Court of Maryland
Why Failure-to-Market Claims Are Preempted Under Federal Law