Jack Knight is the Frederic Cleaveland Professor of Law and Political Science and chair of the political science department. He joins 213 new members to be induced at a ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 8, 2016.
Knight is a political scientist and legal theorist whose scholarly work focuses on modern social and political theory, law and legal theory, and political economy. He holds a joint appointment with Duke Law School and Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. In addition to studying the motivations and decisions of judges, Knight has examined the effects of extensive prior judicial experience as a prerequisite for service on the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as various aspects of how courts make decisions.
“It was a very pleasant surprise to learn that I had been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Knight said. “It is an honor to join the ranks of such a distinguished group of scholars, artists and civic leaders." Knight is the author of several books, including “The Choices Justices Make” (with Lee Epstein) (Congressional Quarterly Press, 1997), which won the American Political Science Association’s C. Herman Prichett Award for the best book published on law and courts.
"I congratulate Jack Knight on his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,” said Dean David F. Levi of Duke Law School. “Through his groundbreaking work in law and political science, including his distinguished scholarship on judicial decision-making and the rule of law worldwide as well as his leadership as co-director of Duke’s Center for Judicial Studies, he has advanced understanding of our society and how it is governed. He is a thinker, scholar, and teacher of the highest caliber, and thus very deserving of this honor."