Jed Rubenfeld

{{Infobox person

| name = Jed Rubenfeld

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1959}}

| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse = Amy Chua

| education = Princeton University (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

| children = 2

| notable_works = The Interpretation of Murder (2006)
The Triple Package (2014)

}}

Jed L. Rubenfeld (born 1959) is an American legal scholar and professor of law at Yale Law School.{{Cite web |title=Jed Rubenfeld |url=https://law.yale.edu/jed-rubenfeld |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=Yale Law School |language=en}} From 2000 to 2020, he served as the Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale University. Rubenfeld is an expert on constitutional law, privacy, and the First Amendment.

Rubenfeld joined the Yale faculty in 1990 and was appointed to a full professorship in 1994. He has served as a United States representative at the Council of Europe[https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-PV(2006)004-e/ European Commission for Democracy through Law 69th Plenary Session Meeting Report] and has taught as a visiting professor at both the Stanford Law School and the Duke University School of Law.{{cite journal |title=Digital Collections |url=http://digilib.petra.ac.id/viewer.php?page=1&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&qual=high&fname=/jiunkpe/s1/sing/2009/jiunkpe-ns-s1-2009-11403020-11526-jed_rubenfeld-appendices.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Petra Christian University Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222164546/http://digilib.petra.ac.id/viewer.php?page=1&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&qual=high&fname=%2Fjiunkpe%2Fs1%2Fsing%2F2009%2Fjiunkpe-ns-s1-2009-11403020-11526-jed_rubenfeld-appendices.pdf |archive-date=February 22, 2014 |access-date=May 9, 2012}} He is also the author of two novels, including the million-copy bestseller, The Interpretation of Murder.{{cite web |title=Jed Rubenfeld – The Death Instinct « Crime and Publishing |url=http://crimeandpublishing.com/2010/09/12/jed-rubenfeld-the-death-instinct/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621093119/http://crimeandpublishing.com/2010/09/12/jed-rubenfeld-the-death-instinct/ |archive-date=2018-06-21 |access-date=2012-05-09 |url-status=usurped |website=Crimeandpublishing.com}}

Early life and education

Rubenfeld was born to a Jewish family and raised in Washington, D.C.{{cite web |last1=Weinstein |first1=Jessica |title=A Jewish-Asian love affair |url=https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/family/a-jewish-asian-love-affair-1.63377 |website=The Jewish Chronicle |publisher=The JC Network |access-date=7 September 2019}} His father was a psychotherapist and his mother was an art critic.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/magazine/confessions-of-a-tiger-couple.html |title=Confessions of a Tiger Couple |date=January 29, 2014 |access-date=April 2, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Jennifer |last=Szalai }} He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1980. He also studied theater in the Drama Division of the Juilliard School between 1980 and 1982 and attended Harvard Law School from 1983 to 1986, graduating with a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude.{{Cite web |last1=Austin |first1=Sara L. |last2=EdD |title=Jed Rubenfeld {{!}} Academic Influence |url=https://academicinfluence.com/people/jed-rubenfeld |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=academicinfluence.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=June 23, 2000 |title=Rubenfeld named to Law School's Slaughter chair |url=http://archives.news.yale.edu/v28.n34/story8.html |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=Yale Bulletin |publisher=Yale University}}

Career

Rubenfeld clerked for Judge Joseph T. Sneed on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1986–1987. After his clerkship, he worked as an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.

Rubenfeld is the author of numerous publications and books, including Freedom and Time: A Theory of Constitutional Self-Government, Revolution by Judiciary, and most recently The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America, which he co-wrote with his wife Amy Chua, best known for her 2011 book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

His scholarship has focused on American constitutional law with particular focus on the First Amendment, which he has articulated as codifying an "anti-orthodoxy principle."{{Cite journal |last=Rubenfeld |first=Jed |date=2000–2001 |title=The First Amendment's Purpose |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/stflr53&id=785&div=&collection= |journal=Stanford Law Review |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=767–832|doi=10.2307/1229492 |jstor=1229492 }} He has written widely cited articles defending a constitutional right to abortion, same-sex marriage,{{Cite journal |last=Rubenfeld |first=Jed |date=1989 |title=The Right of Privacy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1341305 |journal=Harvard Law Review |volume=102 |issue=4 |pages=737–807 |doi=10.2307/1341305 |jstor=1341305 |issn=0017-811X|url-access=subscription }} strong protections against surveillance,{{Cite web |last=Review |first=Stanford Law |title=The End of Privacy |url=https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/print/article/the-end-of-privacy/ |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Stanford Law Review |date=3 April 2010 |language=en}} and the legality of affirmative action.{{Cite journal |last=Alexander |first=Larry |date=1998 |title=Affirmative Action and Legislative Purpose: Jed Rubenfeld, "Affirmative Action", 107 Yale L.J. 427 (1997) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/797356 |journal=The Yale Law Journal |volume=107 |issue=8 |pages=2679–2684 |doi=10.2307/797356 |jstor=797356 |issn=0044-0094|url-access=subscription }} Rubenfeld's work has been praised by peers within the legal academy. Professor Akhil Amar has described him as "the most gifted constitutional theorist (not to mention the most elegant legal writer) of his generation,"{{Cite web |title=Revolution by Judiciary — Jed Rubenfeld |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674017153 |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=www.hup.harvard.edu |language=en}} and the Law and Politics Book Review called Rubenfeld "a leading contemporary thinker in constitutional interpretation whose ideas will help shape this field for some time."{{Cite web |title=Rubenfeld Jed 1959- {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/rubenfeld-jed-1959 |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}

More recently, Rubenfeld has become one of the country's leading scholars on the constitutional implications of social media censorship, arguing that government pressure combined with behind-the-scenes communications and concerted action can turn social media censorship into a First Amendment violation.{{Cite web |date=2019-11-04 |title=Are Facebook and Google State Actors? |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/are-facebook-and-google-state-actors |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Lawfare |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019-11-12 |title=If Facebook and Google Are State Actors, What's Next for Content Moderation? |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/if-facebook-and-google-are-state-actors-whats-next-content-moderation |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Lawfare |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Rubenfeld |first=Vivek Ramaswamy and Jed |title=Opinion {{!}} Save the Constitution From Big Tech |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/save-the-constitution-from-big-tech-11610387105 |access-date=2022-12-08 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=11 January 2021 |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Rubenfeld |first=Vivek Ramaswamy and Jed |title=Opinion {{!}} Twitter Becomes a Tool of Government Censorship |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-becomes-a-tool-of-government-censors-alex-berenson-twitter-facebook-ban-covid-misinformation-first-amendment-psaki-murthy-section-230-antitrust-11660732095 |access-date=2022-12-08 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=17 August 2022 |language=en-US}} He has argued this theory in federal court, representing Children's Health Defense, a non-profit organization that publishes about supposed harms associated with vaccines, in a lawsuit against Facebook.{{Cite web |title=Lawsuit Claims Feds Directed Facebook to Censor Vaccine Misinformation |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/lawsuit-claims-feds-directed-facebook-to-censor-vaccine-misinformation/ |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=www.courthousenews.com |language=en-US}}{{Citation |title=21-16210 Children's Health Defense v. Meta Platforms, Inc. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_EeIr0RkjM |language=en |access-date=2022-12-08}} Rubenfeld has questioned the legality of the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) practices of large asset managers, arguing that fiduciaries who prioritize social-impact investing may be violating their duty of loyalty.{{Cite news |last=Barr |first=Jed Rubenfeld and William P. |title=Opinion {{!}} ESG Can't Square With Fiduciary Duty |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/esg-cant-square-with-fiduciary-duty-blackrock-vanguard-state-stree-the-big-three-violations-china-conflict-of-interest-investors-11662496552 |access-date=2022-12-08 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=6 September 2022 |language=en-US}}

= Misconduct allegations, suspension, and reinstatement =

Beginning in the summer of 2018, Rubenfeld was investigated by Yale Law School for allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate conduct, particularly towards female students, with the investigation being conducted by Title IX investigator Jenn Davis.{{cite web |last1=Mystal |first1=Elie |title=Details On The Allegations Against, And Yale Law School Investigation Into, Professor Jed Rubenfeld |url=https://abovethelaw.com/2018/09/details-on-the-allegations-against-and-yale-law-school-investigation-into-professor-jed-rubenfeld/?rf=1 |website=Above the Law |date=20 September 2018 |access-date=12 November 2018}} The school promised a thorough investigation of any potential faculty misconduct, also looking into reported misconduct by his wife, Amy Chua. Rubenfeld and Chua denied all allegations.{{cite news|last1=Kirchgaessner|first1=Stephanie|last2= Glenza|first2= Jessica|date=September 20, 2018|title='No accident' Brett Kavanaugh's female law clerks 'looked like models', Yale professor told students|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/20/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-yale-amy-chua|access-date=September 20, 2018}}

Rubenfeld responded to the investigation in a statement to The Guardian, writing, "For some years, I have contended with personal attacks and false allegations in reaction to my writing on difficult and controversial but important topics in the law. I have reason to suspect I am now facing more of the same. While I believe strongly that universities must conduct appropriate reviews of any allegations of misconduct, I am also deeply concerned about the intensifying challenges to the most basic values of due process and free, respectful academic expression and exchange at Yale and around the country. Nevertheless, I stand ready to engage with this process in the hope that it can be expeditiously concluded." Rubenfeld has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, stating that he has “never sexually harassed anyone, whether verbally or otherwise.”{{Cite web |title=Yale Law Professor and Title IX Critic Suspended in Title IX Case {{!}} Inside Higher Ed |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/28/yale-law-professor-and-title-ix-critic-suspended-title-ix-case |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=www.insidehighered.com |date=28 August 2020 |language=en}}

In response to the investigation of Rubenfeld, the Yale Daily News quoted a former student saying "It was not a surprise to basically any woman in my class that this investigation is going on," that some students were afraid to speak out against Rubenfeld and his wife because of their reputation for securing prestigious clerkships for law students, and that "the idea of retaliation" when it came to getting prestigious clerkships was "very real."{{Cite web|first=Asha|last=Prihar|title=YLS alumni reflect on Rubenfeld allegations|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/10/26/yls-alumni-reflect-on-rubenfeld-allegations/|newspaper=Yale Daily News|date=October 26, 2018|access-date=May 4, 2022}} In October 2020, some Yale Law students demanded that Rubenfeld be permanently removed from campus.{{Cite web|first=Julia|last=Brown |date=October 12, 2020|title=Law students demand Rubenfeld's permanent removal, greater transparency|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/10/12/law-students-demand-rubenfelds-permanent-removal-greater-transparency/|access-date=2020-10-12|website=yaledailynews.com|language=en}}

Rubenfeld was suspended from August 2020 through May 2022 following the investigation.{{Cite web |last=Carmon |first=Irin |date=2020-08-26 |title=Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld Suspended for Sexual Harassment |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/yale-professor-jed-rubenfeld-suspended-for-sexual-harassment.html |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Intelligencer |language=en-us}} He resumed teaching in Fall of 2022.{{Cite web |title=Courses {{!}} Yale Law School Course Information and Selection Site |url=https://courses.law.yale.edu/courses/term/28 |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=courses.law.yale.edu}} Rubenfeld declined to answer whether he was being paid by Yale during suspension.{{Cite news |last=Zaveri |first=Mihir |date=2020-08-26 |title=Yale Law Professor Is Suspended After Sexual Harassment Inquiry |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/nyregion/jed-rubenfeld-yale.html |access-date=2022-12-08 |issn=0362-4331}}

Personal life

Rubenfeld resides in New Haven, Connecticut, and is married to Yale Law School professor Amy Chua, author of the books World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.{{Cite web |title=Interview with Amy Chua |url=https://www.maxraskin.com/interviews/amy-chua |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=Interviews with Max Raskin |language=en-US}} The couple co-wrote The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/07/truth-about-tiger-mothers-family-amy-chua|title=The truth about the Tiger Mother's family|first=Kira|last=Cochrane|date=7 February 2014|website=theguardian.com}}

Rubenfeld and Chua have two daughters.{{cite news

| last= Chua

| first= Amy

| url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754

| title= Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

| newspaper= Wall Street Journal

| date= January 8, 2011

}}

Bibliography

Freedom and Time: A Theory of Constitutional Self-Government (2001)
Revolution by Judiciary: The Structure of American Constitutional Law (2005)
The Interpretation of Murder (2006), his first novel,{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |date=2006-08-31 |title=A New York Murder Mystery With Freud at the Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/books/31masl.html |access-date=2022-12-08 |issn=0362-4331}} was a number one bestseller in the United Kingdom, and sold over a million copies worldwide.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621093119/http://crimeandpublishing.com/2010/09/12/jed-rubenfeld-the-death-instinct/|archive-date=2018-06-21 |url=http://crimeandpublishing.com/2010/09/12/jed-rubenfeld-the-death-instinct/ |title=Jed Rubenfeld – The Death Instinct « Crime and Publishing |website=Crimeandpublishing.com |url-status=usurped|access-date=2012-05-09}}
The Death Instinct (2010), his second novel, a mystery-thriller,{{cite news|last=Meadows|first=Susannah|title=Brimming With Clues That Are Hard to Link|date=February 2, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/books/03book.html}} uses the 1920 Wall Street bombing as a key plot element.{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022206815.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Seth | last=Stern | title=Book review: 'The Death Instinct' by Jed Rubenfeld | date=February 23, 2011}}{{Cite book |isbn = 978-0755343997|title = The Death Instinct|last1 = Rubenfeld|first1 = Jed|year = 2010| publisher=Headline Review }}
The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America (2014) with Amy Chua