Paul W. Kahn

Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities and Director, Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights


Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. Professor Kahn teaches in the areas of constitutional law and theory, international law, cultural theory and philosophy.

FULL BIOGRAPHY
Paul Kahn

Contact Information



Faculty Assistant


Barbara Mianzo

Education & Curriculum Vitae


J.D., Yale Law School, 1980

Ph.D. (Philosophy), Yale University, 1977

B.A., University of Chicago, 1973

Courses Taught


  • Constitutional Law
  • Human Rights Workshop: Current Issues and Events
  • The Theory and Practice of Human Rights

Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. Professor Kahn teaches in the areas of constitutional law and theory, international law, cultural theory and philosophy. Before coming to Yale in 1985, he clerked for Justice White in the United States Supreme Court and practiced law in Washington, D.C., during which time he was on the legal team representing Nicaragua before the International Court of Justice. He is the author of Legitimacy and History: Self-Government in American Constitutional TheoryThe Reign of Law: Marbury v. Madison and the Construction of America;The Cultural Study of Law: Reconstructing Legal ScholarshipLaw and Love: The Trials of King LearPutting Liberalism in its Place; Out of Eden: Adam and Eve and the Problem of EvilSacred Violence: Torture, Terror, SovereigntyFinding Ourselves at the Movies: Philosophy for a New Generation; and Political Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. (Professor Kahn discusses the book in a podcast from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Listen here.) He earned his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. in Philosophy and J.D. from Yale.

Friday, May 12, 2023


How Biden Can Use Supreme Court Precedent to Win the Debt Ceiling Fight. — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. 

Wednesday, February 8, 2023


Professor Kahn Finds Lessons on Preserving Democracy Close to Home

In his new book, Professor Paul Kahn finds lessons on safeguarding American democracy in a small town: his own.

Friday, May 6, 2022


To Overrule a Precedent — A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022


Conference Highlights Professor Kahn’s Work

The work and jurisprudence of Professor Paul Kahn ’80 was discussed in a two-day workshop Law and Political Imagination on April 7 and 8 co-organized by the Edinburgh Law School Centre for Legal Theory.

Saturday, February 26, 2022


What We Have Already Lost in Ukraine — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021


A Year in Books: Faculty Elevated New Ideas on a Range of Critical Issues

Yale Law School’s renowned faculty published an extraordinary collection of books and scholarship in 2021. Here’s a look back at the year in books published by YLS faculty and lecturers in law.

Friday, September 17, 2021


Texas Bounty Hunters, or a Private Army? — A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities and the Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Monday, August 23, 2021


Perhaps This Is What a Peaceful Transition Looks Like in Afghanistan — A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities and the Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021


Professor Kahn Publishes a Philosophical Memoir

Professor Paul W. Kahn ’80 has published a memoir of the last five years of his mother’s life.

Friday, December 4, 2020


Professor Kahn Publishes New Book Examining a Virus’s Effect on Democracy

Professor Paul W. Kahn ’80 and coeditor Miguel Poiares Maduro have published a new book using COVID-19 as a case study to examine the most important challenges to democratic governance today.

Thursday, December 3, 2020


Why that Supreme Court religious rights decision was about Georgia — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School.

Friday, April 24, 2020


The perils of incrementalism — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80 and Kiel Brennan-Marquez ’11

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School. Kiel Brennan Marquez ’11 is a law professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Monday, March 23, 2020


National security matters more than ever in new era of coronavirus crisis — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School.

Monday, February 3, 2020


Why the 2020 winning ticket includes Michael Bloomberg — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School.

Monday, December 9, 2019


Project and system — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School.

Friday, November 29, 2019


The End of Conservatism — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019


Professor Paul Kahn Reconceptualizes the Nature of Legal Order

Professor of Law and the Humanities Paul W. Kahn ’80 examines how two different concepts of order shape the American social imagination.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019


Seminar Returns to Argentina with Gender and Equality Focus

Legal scholars from Yale Law School and 14 countries convened in Buenos Aires in June for the 24th annual Seminario en Latinoamérica de Teoría Constitutional y Política, or SELA, this year addressing the topic of gender and equality.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019


National emergency funding of border wall is unconstitutional — A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80 and Kiel Brennan Marquez ’11

Paul Kahn ’80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and Kiel Brennan Marquez is a member of the Yale Law School class of 2011.

Thursday, August 24, 2017


America’s Divided Political Imaginary—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn '80 is the Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School. 

Monday, July 24, 2017


Firing Mueller? Pardoning cronies? Trump could get away with that and more if Congress doesn't act.—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Monday, February 15, 2016


Scalia brought constitutional law into the political arena—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015


Beware a Pyrrhic victory over ISIL—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015


Hospital bombing reveals US failure in Afghanistan—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015


Netanyahu doesn’t care about Iran getting the bomb—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Thursday, July 30, 2015


The Dangers of Political Moralizing—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Thursday, July 2, 2015


In today’s world, fear corporations or fear nations?—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Monday, May 25, 2015


Liberalism needs better politicians, not better ideas—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Monday, April 13, 2015


At stake in Yemen, the nuclear deal with Iran—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015


Speaking Power to Truth, or, The Banality of Torture—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. 

Friday, November 14, 2014


A failed strategy cost the Democrats—A Commentary by Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80 is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014


Ebola scare revives post-9/11 public fears—A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School.  

Thursday, October 2, 2014


China’s Coming of Age in Hong Kong—A Commentary by Paul Kahn ’80

 Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities, and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. 

Thursday, March 6, 2014


Bernstein Symposium to Focus on Street Activism and Human Rights

This year’s Bernstein Symposium, to be held at Yale Law School on March 27 and 28, 2014, will center on discussion of “Human Rights in the Streets.” 

Friday, November 15, 2013


Finding Ourselves at the Movies: Philosophy for a New Generation – A Book by Professor Paul W. Kahn ’80

Paul W. Kahn ’80, Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities and Director, Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, assesses the need for a new direction in philosophical inquiry.