Bernard E. Harcourt
Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Political Science
Bernard Harcourt is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Political Science at Columbia University and founding director of the Columbia Center for Contemporary Critical Thought. He is also a directeur d'etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Before joining Columbia in 2014, he served as the Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is an active death penalty lawyer representing inmates on death row in Alabama.
Teaching Style
Professor Harcourt takes a deeply theoretical and interdisciplinary approach, weaving together philosophy, political theory, and legal doctrine in his criminal law and procedure courses. He uses the Socratic method but in a way that encourages critical examination of the assumptions underlying the criminal justice system. He is known for pushing students to question the legitimacy and fairness of existing institutions rather than simply learning rules.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Be prepared to engage with the theoretical and philosophical foundations of criminal law, not just black-letter rules
- 2Read beyond the casebook — Harcourt often assigns supplementary readings from critical theory and political philosophy
- 3Think about the empirical realities of the criminal justice system and how they relate to doctrinal frameworks
- 4Be ready to discuss the distributional effects of criminal law on different communities and classes
Areas of Expertise
Education
- Ph.D., Harvard University (Political Science)
- J.D., Harvard Law School
- B.A., Princeton University
Notable Publications
- Critique & Praxis (Columbia University Press, 2020)
- The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens (2018)
- Exposed: Desire and Disobedience in the Digital Age (2015)
Research Interests
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Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, First Amendment
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