Jed Rubenfeld

Rubenfeld was born and raised in Washington D.C. in a Jewish family.[2] His father was a psychotherapist and his mother was an art critic.[3] He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in philosophy in 1980 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School with a J.D. in 1986.[1][3]

He also studied theater in the Drama Division of the Juilliard School between 1980 and 1982. Rubenfeld clerked for Judge Joseph T. Sneed on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1986–1987.[1] 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.[1]

• Freedom and Time: A Theory of Constitutional Self-Government (2001)
• Against Lemuel (2003)
• Revolution by Judiciary: The Structure of American Constitutional Law (2005)
• The Interpretation of Murder, his first novel, published by Henry Holt & Co.,[4] September 2006, was a number one bestseller in the United Kingdom, and sold over a million copies worldwide.[5]
• The Death Instinct, his second novel, a mystery-thriller published in 2010,[6] uses the Wall Street bombing (1920) as a key plot element.[7][8]
• The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America (2014) with Amy Chua

Beginning in the summer of 2018, Rubenfeld was investigated by Yale Law School for allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct, particularly towards female students, with the investigation being conducted by Title IX investigator Jenn Davis.[9] The school promised a thorough investigation of any potential faculty misconduct, also looking into reported misconduct by Chua.[10] Rubenfeld and Chua denied all allegations.[10] Rubenfeld has been on leave since the spring of 2018.[11][12] Rubenfeld was suspended from teaching in August 2020 for two years and, upon returning, will be barred from teaching small groups of students or required courses.[13] Rubenfeld declined to answer whether he was being paid by Yale during suspension. [14]

In response of the suspension, the Yale Daily News reported quoted a former student as 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.” [15] In October 2020, Yale Law students demanded that Rubenfeld be permanently removed from campus.[16]

Rubenfeld is Jewish.[17] He resides in New Haven, Connecticut and is married to Yale Law School professor Amy Chua, author of the books World on Fire and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. The couple co-wrote The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America.[18]

Rubenfeld and Chua have two daughters,[19] the older of whom told the New Yorker in 2014, "my dad totally thrives on confrontation."[20]

• Yale Law School faculty page
• Bookreporter.com interview
• Appearances on C-SPAN