Kenji Yoshino | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1969-05-01)May 1, 1969 (age 56) |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Magdalen College, Oxford (MSc) Yale University (JD) |
| Occupation | Law professor |
Kenji Yoshino (born May 1, 1969) is an Americanlegal scholar and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at theNew York University School of Law.[1] Formerly, he was the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law atYale Law School. His work involvesconstitutional law,anti-discrimination law,civil andhuman rights, as well aslaw and literature, and Japanese law and society.
Yoshino graduated fromPhillips Exeter Academy (1987) as valedictorian andHarvard College, obtaining a B.A. in English literaturesumma cum laude in 1991.[2] Between undergraduate years, Yoshino worked as an aide for various members of theJapanese Parliament. He moved on toMagdalen College, Oxford, as aRhodes Scholar, earning a M.Sc. in management studies (industrial relations) in 1993. In 1996, he earned a J.D. fromYale Law School, where he was an editor of theYale Law Journal.
From 1996 to 1997, Yoshino served as alaw clerk for JudgeGuido Calabresi of theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1998, he received a tenure-track position at Yale Law School as an associate professor, and in 2003 the school bestowed a full professorship. In 2006, he was named the inaugural Guido Calabresi Professor of Law.[3]
His first bookCovering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights was published in 2006. It is a mix of argument intertwined with pertinent biographical narratives.[4] His second book,A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare's Plays Teach Us About Justice was published in 2011. In 2016, his bookSpeak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial was published and received theStonewall Book Award's Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award.[5]
Covering won theRandy Shilts Award for Gay Non-Fiction fromPublishing Triangle in 2007.[citation needed] His major areas of interest include social dynamics,conformity and assimilation, as well as queer (LGBT) and personal liberty issues. He has been a co-plaintiff in cases related to his specialties.[citation needed]
During the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school years, he served as a visiting professor at New York University School of Law, and in February 2008 he accepted a full-time tenured position as the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law.[1]
In May 2011, Yoshino was elected to theHarvard Board of Overseers, where he served a six-year term.[6] In 2023, Kenji Yoshino joined theFacebook Oversight Board.[7] In July 2023, following a recommendation from the oversight board to deplatform Cambodian head of stateHun Sen, the government ofCambodia listed Yoshino as one of 22 people connected with Meta who were banned from entering the country.[8]
AJapanese American, and openlygay man, Yoshino writes poetry for personal enjoyment.[9]
