Orin Kerr | |
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 Kerr in 2016 | |
| Born | Orin Samuel Kerr (1971-06-02)June 2, 1971 (age 53) New York, U.S. |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Princeton University (BSE) Stanford University (MS) Harvard University (JD) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Cybercrime |
| Institutions | George Washington University University of Southern California University of California, Berkeley |
Orin Samuel Kerr (born June 2, 1971)[1] is an American legal scholar and professor of law at theUC Berkeley School of Law.[2] He is known for his studies of Americancriminal procedure and theFourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well ascomputer crime law and internet surveillance.[2] Kerr is one of the contributors to the law-orientedblog titledThe Volokh Conspiracy.
Kerr was born in 1971 inNew York. His father, Arnold D. Kerr (born Aronek Kierszkowski; 1928–2012), was aPolish Jew who was the only member of his family to survivethe Holocaust; he immigrated to the United States in 1954 and was a professor ofcivil engineering atNew York University and theUniversity of Delaware.[3][4]
After graduating fromTower Hill School inWilmington, Delaware, in 1989,[5] Kerr studiedmechanical engineering andaerospace engineering atPrinceton University, graduating in 1993 with aBachelor of Science in Engineering,magna cum laude. He then did graduate study in mechanical engineering atStanford University, where he received aMaster of Science degree in 1994. Kerr then attendedHarvard Law School, where he was an executive editor of theHarvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and an editor of theHarvard Journal of Law & Technology. He graduated in 1997 with aJuris Doctor,magna cum laude.[6]
Kerr was alaw clerk for JudgeLeonard I. Garth of theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 to 2001, he was a trial attorney in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of theU.S. Department of Justice'sCriminal Division. In 2001, he joined the faculty ofGeorge Washington University Law School.[6]
In 2003, Kerr took a leave of absence from the law school to clerk for JusticeAnthony M. Kennedy of theUnited States Supreme Court during October Term 2003.[7] In 2009, he served U.S. SenatorJohn Cornyn of theSenate Judiciary Committee as Special Counsel for Supreme Court Nominations duringSonia Sotomayor's confirmation asSupreme Court Justice;[8] a year later, he again served as an advisor to Cornyn, this time on the Supreme Court confirmation ofElena Kagan.[9]
Kerr was one of the lawyers for allegedMySpace "cyberbully"Lori Drew.[10] His blog contributions atThe Volokh Conspiracy often focus on developments ininternet privacy law. He has been regarded as a leading scholar onFourth Amendment jurisprudence in electronic communications and surveillance. Kerr was repeatedly cited in the Ninth Circuit's 2008 opinionQuon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc.,[11][12] which held that users have a reasonableexpectation of privacy in the content of text messages and e-mails. The Supreme Court later took up the case, asOntario v. Quon, and unanimously reversed. Kerr argued before the Supreme Court in the 2011 caseDavis v. United States.[13]
In response to a 2011 comment by Chief JusticeJohn Roberts criticizing the irrelevancy of legal scholarship for focusing on issues such asImmanuel Kant's influence on 18th century evidentiary approaches inBulgaria, Kerr wrote a short, humorous paper on the topic in 2015, finding that such influence was highly improbable.[14]
In 2012, he was appointed to a position as a scholar-in-residence at theLibrary of Congress; the two-year part-time position focused on information technology, privacy, and criminal justice.[15] In 2018, Kerr joined the faculty of theUSC Gould School of Law. In 2019, Kerr joined the faculty of theUC Berkeley School of Law.
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