--- title: Akhil Reed Amar | TIME description: Akhil Reed Amar teaches constitutional law at Yale University. He is the author of The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840. canonical: https://time.com/author/akhil-reed-amar/ og:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/author/akhil-reed-amar/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 300 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:type: profile twitter:card: summary twitter:title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Akhil Reed Amar ## Akhil Reed Amar Akhil Reed Amar teaches constitutional law at Yale University. He is the author of [_The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840_](https://www.amazon.com/Words-That-Made-Constitutional-Conversation/dp/0465096352/ref=pd%5Fd%5Fsim%5Fb2b%5F14?pd%5Frd%5Fw=i4YZD&pf%5Frd%5Fp=c1143869-a7d7-4cfd-bf9c-0da7305c3e64&pf%5Frd%5Fr=GRWWJ7DEDQ8PRJ816GHD&pd%5Frd%5Fr=014edc10-8c84-4cf5-be85-83363423640a&pd%5Frd%5Fwg=S3K8F&pd%5Frd%5Fi=0465096352&psc=1)_._ ## Akhil Reed Amar *  Sep 22, 2025 ### [Lincoln's Lesson on Birthright Citizenship](https://time.com/7319247/emancipation-proclamation-birthright-citizenship/) The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation can help us predict how the Supreme Court will likely rule... [HISTORY](/section/history/) *  Jun 30, 2022 ### [Why Liberal Justices Need to Start Thinking Like Conservatives](https://time.com/6192277/supreme-court-originalism/) America has experienced nothing less than a constitutional earthquake, a jolt caused by deep shifts ... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  May 7, 2021 ### [The Story Behind the Declaration of Independence's Most Memorable Line](https://time.com/6046619/declaration-independence-famous-words/) How newspapers and written constitutions brought us "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" [HISTORY](/section/history/) *  Oct 31, 2018 ### [What the Constitution Really Says About Birthright Citizenship](https://time.com/5440454/constitution-birthright-citizenship/) "The Citizenship Clause is one of the richest single sentences in the entire Constitution" [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Jun 29, 2018 ### [What Justice Kennedy's Legacy Could Mean for the Future of the Supreme Court](https://time.com/5326067/kennedy-retirement-swing-vote/) The most important facet of his legacy is a quality that's increasingly uncommon in Washington [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) *  Nov 8, 2016 ### [The Real Reason the Electoral College Exists](https://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/) The Founding Fathers had something particular in mind when they set up the U.S. presidential electio... [HISTORY](/section/history/) *  Apr 15, 2015 ### [Another Similarity Between Lincoln and Obama: They Polarized the Nation](https://time.com/3821293/lincoln-obama-polarization/) Lincoln was a lightning rod—and Obama is too [HISTORY](/section/history/) Meta: null ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://time.com/","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/author/akhil-reed-amar/","name":"Akhil Reed Amar"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://time.com/author/akhil-reed-amar/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/author/akhil-reed-amar/"},"name":"Akhil Reed Amar","jobTitle":null,"description":"Akhil Reed Amar teaches constitutional law at Yale University. He is the author of The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840.","url":"https://time.com/author/akhil-reed-amar/","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/"}}] ```