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John Hart Ely
John Hart Ely (/ˈiːliː/ EE-lee; December 3, 1938 – October 25, 2003) was an American legal scholar. He was a professor of law at Yale Law School from 1968 to 1973, Harvard Law School from 1973 to 1982, Stanford Law School from 1982 to 1996, and at the University of Miami Law School from 1996 until his death. From 1982 until 1987, he was the 9th dean of Stanford Law School.
As a student at Yale Law School, Ely became a member of the legal team of Abe Fortas, contributing to the landmark ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright that required states to provide legal representation to those who could not afford their own. He continued his legal career as the youngest staff member of the Warren Commission tasked with investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After clerking for Justice Earl Warren, he went on to study abroad and returned to take a position as a public defender before beginning a distinguished career in academia as a professor at Yale, Harvard, and Stanford.
During his scholarly career, Ely became known for his devotion to the separation of powers and championship of the political process theory. An outspoken critic of judicial activism, he penned an article in the pages of the Yale Law Journal criticizing the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade in spite of his own agreements with the ruling on policy grounds. His 1980 work Democracy and Distrust became the most-cited legal text written in the 20th century.
In 1996, Ely had three publications which were among the most-cited law review articles of all time. According to a 2000 study in the University of Chicago's Journal of Legal Studies, he was ranked fourth among the most widely cited legal scholars in American history after Richard Posner, Ronald Dworkin, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Ely was born in New York City on December 3, 1938. His father was John H. Ely Sr. and his mother was Elliott Payne. After graduating from Westhampton Beach High School in 1956, he enrolled at Princeton University, majoring in philosophy and earning a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, with Phi Beta Kappa membership in 1960. He then attended Yale Law School, where he was the notes and comments editor of the Yale Law Journal, graduating in 1963 with an LL.B., magna cum laude, with membership in the Order of the Coif.
While still a third-year student at Yale, Ely became a summer clerk at Arnold, Fortas, & Porter—a Washington, D.C. law firm. There, he assisted Abe Fortas in the landmark case of Gideon v. Wainwright, writing a first draft of a brief on behalf of the plaintiff, Clarence Earl Gideon. Ely had been tasked with doing the basic research for the case, writing under pressure to produce a set of legal memoranda including a 25-page paper titled "Application, Ambiguities, and Weaknesses of the Special Counsel Rule" that examined the application of Betts v. Brady in state courts.
After law school, Ely served as the youngest staff member of the Warren Commission, aiding its investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. From 1964 to 1965, Ely was a law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court. As a law clerk, Ely drafted the majority opinion in the landmark decision Hanna v. Plumer; he considered Warren his hero, later dedicating his landmark book, Democracy and Distrust, to him. Ely studied at the London School of Economics as a Fulbright scholar following his clerkship. Upon returning to the United States, he spent some time as part of the Military Police Corps and, despite being overqualified for the job, took a modest position as a public defender in San Diego.
In 1968, Ely joined the faculty of Yale Law School. For five years, he served as a professor at Yale before moving to teach at Harvard Law School in 1973—holding the school's first chair in constitutional law. During this period, he wrote several influential law review articles, including his highly critical analysis of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade in an article entitled "The Wages of Crying Wolf," published in the Yale Law Journal. For a brief period, he took a year's leave to serve as general counsel to the U.S. Department of Transportation and spent a year at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution.
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John Hart Ely
John Hart Ely (/ˈiːliː/ EE-lee; December 3, 1938 – October 25, 2003) was an American legal scholar. He was a professor of law at Yale Law School from 1968 to 1973, Harvard Law School from 1973 to 1982, Stanford Law School from 1982 to 1996, and at the University of Miami Law School from 1996 until his death. From 1982 until 1987, he was the 9th dean of Stanford Law School.
As a student at Yale Law School, Ely became a member of the legal team of Abe Fortas, contributing to the landmark ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright that required states to provide legal representation to those who could not afford their own. He continued his legal career as the youngest staff member of the Warren Commission tasked with investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After clerking for Justice Earl Warren, he went on to study abroad and returned to take a position as a public defender before beginning a distinguished career in academia as a professor at Yale, Harvard, and Stanford.
During his scholarly career, Ely became known for his devotion to the separation of powers and championship of the political process theory. An outspoken critic of judicial activism, he penned an article in the pages of the Yale Law Journal criticizing the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade in spite of his own agreements with the ruling on policy grounds. His 1980 work Democracy and Distrust became the most-cited legal text written in the 20th century.
In 1996, Ely had three publications which were among the most-cited law review articles of all time. According to a 2000 study in the University of Chicago's Journal of Legal Studies, he was ranked fourth among the most widely cited legal scholars in American history after Richard Posner, Ronald Dworkin, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Ely was born in New York City on December 3, 1938. His father was John H. Ely Sr. and his mother was Elliott Payne. After graduating from Westhampton Beach High School in 1956, he enrolled at Princeton University, majoring in philosophy and earning a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, with Phi Beta Kappa membership in 1960. He then attended Yale Law School, where he was the notes and comments editor of the Yale Law Journal, graduating in 1963 with an LL.B., magna cum laude, with membership in the Order of the Coif.
While still a third-year student at Yale, Ely became a summer clerk at Arnold, Fortas, & Porter—a Washington, D.C. law firm. There, he assisted Abe Fortas in the landmark case of Gideon v. Wainwright, writing a first draft of a brief on behalf of the plaintiff, Clarence Earl Gideon. Ely had been tasked with doing the basic research for the case, writing under pressure to produce a set of legal memoranda including a 25-page paper titled "Application, Ambiguities, and Weaknesses of the Special Counsel Rule" that examined the application of Betts v. Brady in state courts.
After law school, Ely served as the youngest staff member of the Warren Commission, aiding its investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. From 1964 to 1965, Ely was a law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court. As a law clerk, Ely drafted the majority opinion in the landmark decision Hanna v. Plumer; he considered Warren his hero, later dedicating his landmark book, Democracy and Distrust, to him. Ely studied at the London School of Economics as a Fulbright scholar following his clerkship. Upon returning to the United States, he spent some time as part of the Military Police Corps and, despite being overqualified for the job, took a modest position as a public defender in San Diego.
In 1968, Ely joined the faculty of Yale Law School. For five years, he served as a professor at Yale before moving to teach at Harvard Law School in 1973—holding the school's first chair in constitutional law. During this period, he wrote several influential law review articles, including his highly critical analysis of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade in an article entitled "The Wages of Crying Wolf," published in the Yale Law Journal. For a brief period, he took a year's leave to serve as general counsel to the U.S. Department of Transportation and spent a year at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution.