Constitutional Law
Erwin Chemerinsky
b. 1953 · Chicago, USA
The Constitution, explained so anyone can hold power to it.
Article V: after two-thirds of both houses of Congress propose an amendment, three-quarters of the states must ratify it. That means 38 of 50. Only 27 amendments have ever made it.
01
Scholar and dean
He studied at Northwestern and took his law degree at Harvard in 1978. He taught at USC and Duke, became founding dean of the UC Irvine School of Law in 2008, and has been dean of Berkeley Law since 2017.
02
The book that teaches the Constitution
His treatise Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies is one of the standard texts that law students learn from. It sets out the rules courts use, such as how closely a judge should examine a law: rational basis, intermediate scrutiny and strict scrutiny.
03
In the courtroom
He has argued cases before the US Supreme Court, including Lockyer v. Andrade (2003). There he challenged a 50-years-to-life sentence for stealing videotapes under California's three-strikes law, and lost 5–4.
04
Arguing in public
His books for general readers include The Case Against the Supreme Court (2014), Presumed Guilty (2021), Worse Than Nothing (2022) and No Democracy Lasts Forever (2024). He argues that courts have too often failed to protect rights, and that democracies need defending.
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How they thought
Start from the text
Read exactly what the Constitution says, then how courts have read it.
Name the test
Every rights question turns on which level of scrutiny applies; identify it first.
Explain it plainly
Write so that students, judges and citizens can all follow the argument.
⟶
Timeline
1953
Born in Chicago.
1978
JD from Harvard Law School.
2003
Argues Lockyer v. Andrade at the Supreme Court.
2008
Founding dean of UC Irvine School of Law.
2017
Becomes dean of Berkeley Law.
2024
Publishes No Democracy Lasts Forever.
I
Train your brain
Mastered 0 / 6
How many states must ratify an amendment?
II
Train the machine
166 lines to learn, 38 held back. Names are removed. Random batches, dropout and noise make each seed take its own path.