Remembering Richard Posner: A Scholar’s Scholar and a Tireless and Thorough Judge

has died at 87, after receding from public view following an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2018. It was a cruel way to go for a fantastically prolific thinker and writer, but there is no easy exit from this life.

Posner was one of the inescapable titans of the federal judiciary in the past half century following his appointment by Ronald Reagan to the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit in 1981, where he would serve as chief judge for years. Studies concluded that he was the most-cited legal scholar of the second half of the 20th century. Yet his career came to exemplify the limitations of the judge as a force for guiding and changing society.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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has died at 87, after receding from public view following an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2018. It was a cruel way to go for a fantastically prolific thinker and writer, but there is no easy exit from this life.

Posner was one of the inescapable titans of the federal judiciary in the past half century following his appointment by Ronald Reagan to the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit in 1981, where he would serve as chief judge for years. Studies concluded that he was the most-cited legal scholar of the second half of the 20th century. Yet his career came to exemplify the limitations of the judge as a force for guiding and changing society.