Laurence Tribe

Law Professor and Constitutional Law Expert

Fall 1958 Graduate

        Larry is one of this nations most distinguished Constitutional Law scholars. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Harvard College in 1962, he received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1966. Larry clerked for Justice Mathew Tobriner during the 1966-67 session of the California Supreme Court and for Justice Potter Stewart during the 1967-68 session of the United States Supreme Court.

        Born in Shanghai, China of Russian Jewish parents, Larry came to the United States when he was five years old. He attended public schools in San Francisco on an accelerated basis, graduating from Lincoln when he was only sixteen. After a year as Executive Director of the Technology Assessment Panel for the National Academy of Sciences, Larry joined the faculty of Harvard Law School where since 1982 he has been the Ralph S. Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law.

        A prolific writer, his 1987 treatise American Constitutional Law received the 1980 Coif Award for the most outstanding legal writing in the nation and is considered the leading treatise on the subject. His 1985 book on the Supreme Court, God Save this Honorable Court, was declared 'must reading' by Justice Brennan. His latest books, Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (1990) and On Reading the Consititution (1991) have been widely praised.

        Larry is not just a scholar or a teacher, but he is one of the most skilled legal practitioners in the country. The New Republic in 1988 named him the premier Supreme Court litigator of the decade. Larry has argued twenty-one cases before the United States Supreme Court. He has prevailed in fifteen of them, many of which resulted in landmark decisions.

        Larry's honors are numerous. He has been awarded four honorary Doctor of Laws degrees. He assisted the Marshall Islands in drafting its constitution. In 1990, Larry was named to the U.S. European Committee on the Czechoslovak Constitution. He is a fellow of the American Academy of arts & Sciences.

        In recognition of his many accomplishments, Larry was inducted into the Abraham Lincoln High School Wall of Fame in May 1992.