Laurence Tribe

Laurence Henry Tribe (born October 10, 1941) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of United States constitutional law. Tribe was a professor at Harvard Law School from 1968 until his retirement in 2020. He currently holds the position of Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus.

A constitutional law scholar, Tribe is co-founder of the American Constitution Society. He is also the author of American Constitutional Law (1978), a major treatise in that field, and has argued before the United States Supreme Court 36 times. His family is Jewish. His father was born in a town on the of outskirts of Minsk and his mother was born in Harbin to immigrants from Eastern Europe; Tribe's first language was Russian. Tribe spent his early years in the French Concession of Shanghai before his family immigrated to the United States when he was six years old. His family settled in San Francisco, and he attended Abraham Lincoln High School.

After graduating from high school in 1958 at age 16, Tribe attended Harvard University, where he majored in mathematics and was a member of the Harvard Debate Team that won the intercollegiate National Debate Tournament in 1961. He graduated from Harvard in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics. Tribe received a National Science Foundation fellowship to pursue doctoral studies in mathematics at Harvard, but dropped out after one year.

Career After graduating from law school, Tribe clerked for justice Mathew Tobriner of the Supreme Court of California from 1966 to 1967, then for Justice Potter Stewart of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1967 to 1968. He then joined the Harvard Law School faculty as an assistant professor, receiving tenure in 1972. Among his law students and research assistants while on the faculty at Harvard have been former President Barack Obama (a research assistant for over two years), Chief Justice John Roberts, US Senator Ted Cruz, Other students of Tribe include U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, Former Chair of the House Intelligence Committee and lead manager for the first Impeachment of Donald Trump, and Jamie Raskin, lead manager for the second Donald Trump impeachment.

In 1978, Tribe published the first version of what has become one of the core texts on its subject, American Constitutional Law. It has since been updated and expanded a number of times.

In 1983, Tribe represented Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon in the appeal of his federal conviction on income tax charges.

In the 1985 National Gay Task Force v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, Tribe represented the National Gay Task Force who had won an Appeals Court ruling against an Oklahoma law that would have allowed schools to fire teachers who were attracted to people of the same sex or spoke in favor of civil rights for gay people. The Supreme Court deadlocked, which left the Appeals Court's favorable ruling in place, declaring the law would have violated the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court ruled against Tribe's client in Bowers v. Hardwick in 1986 and held that a Georgia state law criminalizing sodomy, as applied to consensual acts between persons of the same sex, did not violate fundamental liberties under the principle of substantive due process. However, in 2003 the Supreme Court overruled Bowers in Lawrence v. Texas, a case for which Tribe wrote the ACLU's amicus curiae brief supporting Lawrence, who was represented by Lambda Legal. His participation in the hearings raised his profile outside of the legal realm and he became a target of right-wing critics.

Tribe was part of Al Gore's legal team regarding the results of the 2000 United States presidential election. Due to the close nature of the vote count, recounts had been initiated in Florida, and the recounts had been challenged in court. Tribe argued the initial case in Federal Court in Miami in which they successfully argued that the court should not stop the recount of the votes which was taking place and scheduled to take place in certain counties. David Boies argued for the Gore team in a related matter in the Florida State Courts regarding the dates that Secretary of State of Florida Katherine Harris would accept recounts. Tribe represented General Electric in its defense against its liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("Superfund"), in which GE and Tribe unsuccessfully argued that the act unconstitutionally violated General Electric's due process rights.

In 2014, Tribe was retained to represent Peabody Energy in a suit against the Environmental Protection Agency. Tribe argued that EPA's use of the Clean Air Act to implement its Clean Power Plan was unconstitutional. Tribe's legal analysis has been criticized by some legal commentators, including fellow Harvard Law School professors Richard J. Lazarus and Jody Freeman, who described his conclusion as "wholly without merit".

Tribe, along with Alan Dershowitz and a number of other scholars at Harvard Law School expressed their support for animal rights including "animal personhood" in 2003.

Plagiarism In 2004, Tribe acknowledged having plagiarized several phrases and a sentence in his 1985 book, God Save this Honorable Court, from a 1974 book by Henry Abraham. After an investigation, Tribe was reprimanded by Harvard for "a significant lapse in proper academic practice," but the investigation concluded that Tribe did not intend to plagiarize.

Facebook Oversight Board On September 25, 2020, Tribe was named as one of the 25 members of the "Real Facebook Oversight Board", an independent monitoring group over Facebook.

Political involvement Tribe is one of the co-founders of the liberal progressive American Constitution Society, the law and policy organization formed to counter the conservative Federalist Society.

Tribe served as a judicial adviser to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. In February 2010, he was named "Senior Counselor for Access to Justice" in the Department of Justice. He resigned eight months later, citing health reasons.

In December 2016, Tribe and notable lawyers Lawrence Lessig and Andrew Dhuey established The Electors Trust under the aegis of Equal Citizens. They provide pro bono legal counsel as well as a secure communications platform for those of the 538 members of the United States Electoral College who were considering a vote of conscience against Donald Trump in the presidential election.

After the dismissal of James Comey in May 2017, Tribe wrote: "The time has come for Congress to launch an impeachment investigation of President Trump for obstruction of justice." Tribe argued that Trump's conduct rose to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors" that are impeachable offenses under the Constitution. He added: "It will require serious commitment to constitutional principle, and courageous willingness to put devotion to the national interest above self-interest and party loyalty, for a Congress of the president's own party to initiate an impeachment inquiry."

On August 19, 2023, several legal constitutional scholars, including conservative legal scholar J. Michael Luttig and Tribe, argued that former U.S. President Donald Trump is now barred from presidential office under section 3 of the 14th Amendment because of his alleged support for the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

In 2025, Tribe argued that the power that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency attempt to exercise over the U.S. federal government is illegal. Tribe says that Musk "absolutely" faces a conflict of interest in his roles as a government contractor and federal employee.

Trump conspiracy theories Tribe has stirred controversy due to his promotion of conspiracy theories about Donald Trump's fitness for the presidency. Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan harshly criticized Tribe, saying that he "has become an important vector of misinformation and conspiracy theories on Twitter." Tribe removed the posted tweets following the Palmer Report and contests the accuracy of the story of controversy.

Awards and honors Tribe was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2010. On May 22, 2013, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Columbia University during its Class of 2013 commencement. He received the American Philosophical Society’s Henry M. Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence (2013).

Cases

The following is a list of cases Tribe has argued in the Supreme Court, as of the end of 2005: Case Citation Year Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia 1980 Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness 1981 Crawford v. Board of Education 1982 Larkin v. Grendel’s Den, Inc. 1982 White v. Massachusetts Council 1983 Pacific Gas & Electric v. California 1983 Hawaii Housing Auth. v. Midkiff 1984 Northeast Bancorp v. Fed. Reserve 1985 National Gay Task Force v. Board of Education 1985 Fisher v. City of Berkeley 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick 1986 Pennzoil v. Texaco 1986 Schweiker v. Chilicky 1988 Granfinanciera v. Nordberg 1989 Sable Communications v. FCC 1989 Adams Fruit v. Barrett 1990 Rust v. Sullivan 1991 Cipollone v. Liggett 1992 TXO v. Alliance Resources 1993 Honda Motor Co. v. Oberg 1994 U.S. v. Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone 1996 Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party 1997 Vacco v. Quill 1997 Amchem Products v. Windsor 1997 Baker v. General Motors 1998 AT&T v. Iowa Utilities Board 1999 Ortiz v. Fibreboard 1999 Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board 2000 New York Times Co. v. Tasini 2001 U.S. v. United Foods 2001 FCC v. NextWave 2002 State Farm v. Campbell 2003 Nike v. Kasky 2003 Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association 2005

Tribe has argued 26 cases in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals: Case Citation Circuit Year Worldwide Church of God v. California 623 F.2d 613 9th 1980 Grendel's Den v. Goodwin 662 F.2d 102 1st 1981 Pacific Legal Foundation v. State Energy Resources 659 F.2d 903 9th 1981 United States v. Sun Myung Moon 718 F.2d 1210 2nd 1983 Romany v. Colegio de Abogados 742 F.2d 32 1st 1984 Westmoreland v. CBS 752 F.2d 16 2nd 1984 Colombrito v. Kelly 764 F.2d 122 2nd 1985 Texaco v. Pennzoil 784 F.2d 1133 2nd 1986 U.S. v. Bank of New England 821 F.2d 844 1st 1987 U.S. v. Gallo 859 F.2d 1078 2nd 1988 U.S. v. GAF Corporation 884 F.2d 670 2nd 1989 U.S. v. Western Electric Company 900 F.2d 283 D.C. 1999 Fineman v. Armstrong World Industries 980 F.2d 171 D.C. 1992 U.S. v. Western Electric Company 993 F.2d 1572 D.C. 1993 Lightning Lube v. Witco Corporation 4 F.3d 1153 3rd 1993 Hopkins v. Dow Corning Corporation 33 F.3d 1116 9th 1994 Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone v. U.S. 42 F.3d 181 4th 1994 Georgine v. Amchem Products, Inc. 83 F.3d 610 3rd 1996 BellSouth Corp. v. F.C.C. 144 F.3d 58 D.C. 1998 SBC Communications v. F.C.C. 154 F.3d 226 5th 1998 City of Dallas v. F.C.C. F.3d 341 5th 1999 U.S. West v. Tristani (90.5 KB) 10th 1999 U.S. West v. F.C.C. (220 KB) 10th 1999 Southwest Voter Registration v. Shelley (23.0 KB) 9th 2003 Pacific Gas and Elec. v. California (144 KB) 9th 2003 General Electric v. E.P.A. (49.8 KB) D.C. 2004

Selected works Books Technology: Processes of Assessment and Choice (1969) Environmental Protection (1971; co-author with Louis Jaffe) Channeling Technology Through Law (1973) The American Presidency: Its Constitutional Structure (1974) American Constitutional Law (treatise; 1978, 1979, 1988, and 2000) The Supreme Court: Trends and Developments (1979, 1980, 1982, 1983) God Save This Honorable Court: How the Choice of Supreme Court Justices Shapes Our History (1985) Constitutional Choices (1985) Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (1990) On Reading the Constitution (1991; co-author with Michael Dorf) The Invisible Constitution (2008) Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution (2014; co-author with Joshua Matz) To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment (2018; co-author with Joshua Matz)

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