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| Frank Easterbrook | |
|---|---|
| Name | Frank Easterbrook |
| Birth date | 1948 |
| Birth place | New York City |
| Education | Yale University (BA), University of Chicago Law School (JD) |
| Occupation | United States federal judge, legal scholar |
| Known for | Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit |
Frank Easterbrook is a United States federal judge and prominent legal scholar known for his work on antitrust law, administrative law, and statutory interpretation. He served as a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Easterbrook's writings and opinions have influenced debates among scholars associated with law and economics, originalism, and textualism.
Born in New York City, Easterbrook attended Yale University where he completed his undergraduate studies. He earned his Juris Doctor at the University of Chicago Law School, where he studied under influential scholars associated with the Chicago School of Economics and worked alongside figures connected to Robert Bork, Richard Posner, and George Stigler. After law school, he clerked for judges connected to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and other federal courts before entering academia.
Easterbrook joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School, where he taught courses influenced by thinkers such as Ronald Coase, Milton Friedman, and Gary Becker. He published in journals linked to institutions like the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, and the Columbia Law Review, contributing to debates involving figures such as Antonin Scalia, Henry Manne, and Richard Epstein. His academic affiliations connected him to interdisciplinary centers including the Booth School of Business and networks associated with the Federalist Society and the American Bar Association. Students and colleagues who interacted with him later joined organizations like the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Supreme Court of the United States as clerks or practitioners.
Nominated by President Ronald Reagan and later associated with nominations in the era of George H. W. Bush, Easterbrook was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a court that includes states such as Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. On the Seventh Circuit he sat with judges like Richard Posner, Bauer, and Posner contemporaries, participating in panels that addressed matters involving statutes such as the Civil Rights Act, the Sherman Antitrust Act, and questions implicating the Administrative Procedure Act. His tenure connected him to issues arising in circuits that interacted with the Supreme Court of the United States and with petitions for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
Easterbrook authored opinions addressing antitrust disputes under the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, bankruptcy matters under the Bankruptcy Code, and administrative law questions related to the Administrative Procedure Act and Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. doctrine. His analyses often reflected the influence of textualism and law and economics, echoing themes from scholars like Antonin Scalia and Richard Posner. He wrote for panels that addressed precedent from the Supreme Court of the United States and circuit splits involving the Second Circuit, the Third Circuit, and the District of Columbia Circuit. His views on stare decisis, separation of powers, and deference shaped discourse among judges in circuits such as the Ninth Circuit and the Fourth Circuit and were discussed in academic settings from Harvard University to Stanford Law School.
Easterbrook published widely in legal periodicals, contributing articles to the University of Chicago Law Review, Harvard Law Review, and other flagship journals. His scholarship engaged topics including antitrust doctrine debated alongside work by Robert Bork, Herbert Hovenkamp, and John Lopatka, administrative law dialogue with Cass Sunstein and K. C. Davis, and interpretation theories connected to Scalia and E. D. Mansfield. He contributed to edited volumes alongside contributors from Georgetown University Law Center, Columbia Law School, and the Yale Law School, and his essays were cited by courts including the United States Supreme Court and state supreme courts in New York and California.
Easterbrook's judicial philosophy and writings have generated criticism from scholars such as Cass Sunstein, Danielle Citron, and others who challenged aspects of his positions on deference, privacy, and corporate regulation. Debates involving his opinions intersected with critiques from proponents of progressive legal theory at institutions like NYU School of Law and Berkeley Law, and elicited responses in fora including the American Constitution Society and law reviews at Columbia University and Stanford University. His approach to antitrust and administrative law provoked commentary from regulators at the Federal Trade Commission and academics at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Georgetown University Law Center.
Category:Living people Category:United States Court of Appeals judges Category:University of Chicago Law School faculty Category:Yale University alumni