Biography

Peter and Helen Bing Professor in Undergraduate Education, Emeritus; Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

A lifelong leader in academia and an esteemed scholar of constitutional law, Gerhard Casper served as Stanford University’s president from 1992-2000. During that time, his commitment to excellence in both undergraduate and graduate education resulted in a number of major initiatives. A decorated academic, Professor Casper holds honorary doctorates from Yale and Uppsala Universities. He has been elected to membership in the American Law Institute, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Comparative Law, the Order Pour le mérite for the Sciences and Arts, and the American Philosophical Society. During the fall of 2006, he held the Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance at the Library of Congress. He currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of the Central European University in Budapest and has served as a successor trustee of Yale University (2000-2008) and on the board of trustees of the American Academy in Berlin (2000-2009).

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1992, Professor Casper was a longtime faculty member at the University of Chicago, where he served as the provost of the university, the dean of the law school, and a professor of law. He began his career as a professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley.

Key Works

• Gerhard Casper, Separating Power: Essays on the Founding Period, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997, 202 pages.
• Gerhard Casper, Constitutional Constraints on the Conduct of Foreign and Defense Policy: A Nonjudicial Model, 43 University of Chicago Law Review 463-98 (1976).
• Gerhard Casper. With Posner, Richard A. The Workload of the Supreme Court, Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1976.

In the News

• Stanford President Emeritus To Take Helm Of FSI
  Stanford Report, November 09, 2011

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Gerhard Casper and Stephen D. Krasner, On Citizenship (Book review: Peter J. Spiro, Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization), 4 American Interest 111 (2009)
• Gerhard Casper, The Concept of National Citizenship in the Contemporary World: Identity or Volition?, Lecture at the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg (September 26, 2008)
• Gerhard Casper, Forswearing Allegiance, The Maurice and Muriel Fulton Lecture in Legal History, University of Chicago Law School (May 1, 2008)
• Gerhard Casper, The Traffic of Peace, (25th Anniversary of the Krupp Internship Program for Stanford Students in Germany, 6 abroad (supplement) (February 2008)
• Gerhard Casper, Henry Thoreau and Civil Disobedience, in Über die Pflicht zum Ungehorsam gegenüber dem Staat, Horst Albach, ed., Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2007, pp. 44-59 / Orden Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste, Reden und Gedenkworte, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, Bd. 36, 2007-2008, pp. 223-3
• Gerhard Casper, In Memoriam : David P. Currie, 75 University of Chicago Law Review 1 (2008)
• Gerhard Casper, Caesarism in Democratic Politics : Reflections on Max Weber. Lecture delivered at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress (March 22, 2007)
• Gerhard Casper, Gibt es ein europäisches Demokratiedefizit?, Lecture delivered at the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, Munich, (May 30, 2006)
• Gerhard Casper, Beschäftigung im Silicon Valley, in Orden Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste, Reden und Gedenkworte, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, Bd. 34, 2005-2006. p. 73-82
• Gerhard Casper, Die Luft der Freiheit weht : Universitätsreformation, in Berliner Lektionen 2000-2007, Berlin: Berliner Festspiele & ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, 2007, p. 53-69 / Die Befreiung der Universitäten, Die Zeit 71 (January 25, 2005)

Affiliations & Honors

Honors and Awards

• Honorary LLD, John Marshall Law School, 1982; IIT Chicago-Kent, 1987; Honorary PhD Yale Law School, 2000
• Honorary PhD, Uppsala University, 2000
• Elected Member, American Law Institute, 1977 (elected to ALI Council, 1980)
• Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1980
• Elected Member, International Academy of Comparative Law, 1990
• Elected Member, Order Pour le mérite for the Sciences and Arts, 1993
• Elected Member, American Philosophical Society, 1996