The big question: who is going to teach Elements?

you put feldsuk in the same sentence as sunstein. totally different league.

Maybe he just realized that UofC is where fun goes to die. Seriously, it is.

Word on the street is he left because they hired Leiter.

I'm going to be pissed if she's hooking up with Leiter. It would be almost as bad as Britney hooking up with KFed (at the time, not knowing what we know now).

Sunstein is sui generis.

so sad

"Stop sleeping with my husband!"

"I CAN'T!"

I believe the quote was:

"would you stop sleeping with my husband?"

"no"

Sucks for Chicago. They'll survive.

Chicago is still a super elite team.

I took the admin course he taught while visiting at HLS. It was the worst, most incomprehensible, most rambling course I've ever taken here. But I suppose the fact that he's famous excuses all.

WOW! This is HUGE. I can't believe there have only been 8 posts about this ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Oh please. No one asks someone to stop sleeping with their husband. That's got to be a demand.

ATL should get the real story before they report. This isn't about Harvard convincing him to come, it's about his personal life.

It's b/c of his NEW gf -- MN is so over.

overrated

If this guy's such a genius why would he choose to return to UofC to teach during the winter?

YAWN

to anon @ 1:05 - his rambling incoherence is still at full strength. Admin time is nap time here at U of C this quarter.

HA HA

I'll be sure to file this tidbit of information in the "shit that don't matter" file of my brain. It will be kept good company by George Clooney's birthday (May 6, 1961) and the winner of miss america 1996 (Ms. Oklahoma).

Cass rhymes with bass.

do you guys ever call him Ass Shit-steam?

Hey Lat,

The real scoop is whether Cass will bring his messy office to HLS.

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0106/features/index.htm#2

Hopefully Elements will now be abandoned or moved to Harvard.

Sunstein is great man with tremendous insight and a superb academic mind. Chicago will be smarting from this loss. That said, he's best encountered perhaps through his writing, since his pedagogy is very lacking. His presentation is disorganized and his exploration of even established areas of law can be confusing. Students at Chicago in the future might regret not being able to learn Admin from such a star, but I can assure them they're likely to learn much more from one of our younger professors.

I hope that Sunstein's departure will help to inspire some of those younger professors to take up his stead. We have some fine younger professors here who could use some more spotlight.

Here is the e-mail Sunstein sent to Chicago colleagues announcing his move:

From: Cass Sunstein [mailto:csunstei@uchicago.edu]
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008
To:
Subject: transitions

Friends and colleagues: I'm writing to say that I've just accepted an appointment at Harvard Law School. It is an understatement to say that I don't take this step easily or lightly. As most of you know, I've been reflecting on this question for several years. I finally decided, for personal reasons, that I need a change. But my new arrangement will enable me to keep my apartment, an office, and a continued relationship with the University of Chicago Law School, as Harry Kalven Visiting Professor of Law for next winter (and, it is anticipated, for the same period for the next two years). In this way, I am seeking continuity as well as change.

There's much to say, of course, but for now: Everything I know, I have learned at the University of Chicago Law School. It is an amazing institution. It is a unique combination of high standards, curiosity, intellectual excitement, refusal to follow the herd, focus, generosity, personal kindness, intensity, desire to get it right, a nonsense-free zone, toughness, gentleness, amusement, and a sense of fun amidst it all -- and much more.

The University of Chicago Law School was an astoundingly good place back in 1981, when I arrived. Miraculously, it is even better now -- a stronger institution today than it has been at any time during my years here.

See you in the halls.

Actually, the Sunstein/Nussbaum powercouple is reportedly no more.

I wonder who will take over Elements next fall, since Sunstein has taught it, I believe, every year since 1994.

Gersen?

Naw, Sunstein won't teach Elements. I ran into Dean Pritchard in the quad this morning (he was on his way to Blugo's Coffee Shoppe). He said that the next prof. for Elements is either going to be Morris or Van Brunt. Both have showed interest, and its possible it could be team taught due to Morris's coming new-born and Van Brunt's emeritus status. Both of them are brainstorming how this would work out.

Van Brunt? Seriously? I took Conflicts with that dude. He's a crazy hard grader, and pretty much just crazy. Must've blown a nerve clerking for Brandeis back in the day.

It won't be Gersen. He's a visiting prof. next year at Emory. Morris? I heard she was going on sabbatical for the new kid and to write a new book. Van Brunt will probably retire next year (or be dead). Maybe Snyder if he doesn't take go to the White House or DOJ after this next presidential election. Or Brocksman (if she doesn't go back to private practice at CWT).

2:43--I assume you meant "Gersen (not Sunstein) won't teach Elements", right?

Although Sunstein is definitely a big loss for Chicago from a scholarship standpoint, let's hope they use the freed-up money to bring in some new young guns. Also, count me as one of the many who fell off the Sunstein train of thought during Ad law and never got back on. How I managed a B in the class will continue to evade me as I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Losing him as a professor isn't as big of an issue.

As to why Sunstein chose to leave Chicago for Harvard, Elena Kagan having made Harvard a more friendly place had to be a factor. However, Sunstein's personal life is by far the most compelling reason given that A) he and Nussbaum are reportedly no more, and B) I heard that he has a new flame located in Cambridge, and she pressured him to come to Harvard... he would have stayed where he was otherwise.

Wrong, 2:43. Elements is the only class that has never been taught by a minority professor. I'm thinking that leaves Abugato, Hussein, or Hernandez.

3:25--this is exactly what Pritchard told me. Do you think I'm lying or he's lying, or that we are both insane? I have it straight from his mouth.

I heard it as (and imagine this all said through clenched teeth at a cocktail party):

"Will you please stop fucking my husband?"
"I'm sorry, my dear, I just can't."

Sad day, big loss. He is the rare kind of academic who, despite his prolific writing and unmatched influence, cares as much or more about the law students he teaches as he does about his own personal success. Sorry to lose him, best of luck in Cambridge where the best of U of C's faculty has taken up residence (see also Goldsmith, Vermeule, etc.).

I took a seminar with Sunstein on human behavior while at HLS, and loved every minute of it. He just went for an intellectual ramble for a semester and we all got to tag along. Cannot imagine trying to take admin with him, but still a great addition for Harvard, especially since they lost Viscusi's regulatory expertise ...

I once spent an hour in the starbucks on Mass Ave eavesdropping on the dean of Stanford Law trying to woo Sunstein. With all they were offering him (head of an interdisciplinary center), the decision must have come down to his personal life.

The legal academy is going to be so embarrassed when it realizes that it's been acting like a 13 year old girl that has a crush on the boy with a weird name and floppy hair.

Big loss for our school, but hopefully the smartie pantses at HLS will have an easier time understanding him. My merely Elite-sized brain was never capable of making sense of his words.

Vermeule Sykes and Sunstein all taught at Chicago just a few years ago when I was there. Have they gotten anyone good recently to fill the void?

4:29---Yeah, they got Morris, Hussein, and Abugato. Pretty good replacements if you ask me.

Clearly we need a detailed profile on the life of Cass. An E! type special.

Cass Sunstein: The ATL! True Law School Story.

So, does this mean Sunstein is single???

"a nonsense-free zone"

Mmmmmmkaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

4:46 - You're crazy if you think abugato is any good. Just because he graduated sua sponte from Yale, does not mean he is a good law professor.

anybody care to fill the rest of us in on what the "you slept with my husband stuff is about?"
nussbaum and sunstein weren't married, no?

Yo, Sunstein and Nussbaum aren't married, but Sunstein used to be, and apparently still was when he first hooked up with Nussbaum. The conversation people are recounting is rumored to be the confrontation between Sunstein's now ex-wife and Nussbaum at a U. Chicago faculty cocktail party.

I took Sunstein's Admin class when he visited at HLS, too. Was it confusing at times? Yeah. Was it challenging? Yeah. But it was an awesome course and I actually learned a lot. And I did maybe half my reading and still got an A or A-.

i <3 u, sunstein.

while following your train of thought may have been a bit like convincing oneself that, if you look hard enough, you can see the wind, i truly hope you come back to us at u of c. you were somehow the only prof who made concepts so much clearer by making them so much more complex... i loved every minute of your exams. you will be missed.

I think we can infer from this move that Sunstein wants President Obama to appoint him to the First Circuit, rather than the Seventh. From which we can infer that Sunstein thinks that Easterbrook is kind of a dick, but that Boudin is pretty sweet.

2:11 -- There are a number of Dicks at the U of C, including Dick Epstein, Dick Posner, Dick Helmholz and Frank Easterbrook

agree with 4:29. we have lost some serious talent recently and have not gotten any in return. ten years ago we were stealing great profs from other schools and now the reverse is happening to us. hopefully this is cyclical. . .

Chicago has 'stolen' several profs from other schools recently--McAdams and Fennell from Illinois, Maleni from Virginia, Leiter from Texas. 2 profs from Columbia are visiting Chicago this year.

Harvard didn't offer Cass anything special other than access to his girlfriend. He is done wit Martha and is talking all over school about his new gf, a young prof at Kennedy. Harvard didn't poach him, a woman did. Rumor is she said she'd break up with him if he didn't move to Boston.

I've heard that rumor as well. Apparently they met while working for Obama.

why do so many chicago pple have chips on their shoulders about yale?

It wasn't an offer by Harvard - it was his new girlfriend, Samantha Power(s)? who supposedly demanded that he commit to her AND to Harvard. He felt torn but did it any way. She's Obama's foreign policy advisor and is substantially younger than him.

once a cheater, always a cheater....watch out new girl.

nice to see that the "preeminent legal scholar of our time -- the most wide-ranging, the most prolific, the most cited, and the most influential" professor currently teaching is thinking and making decisions with his other head. it doesn't make me feel so bad about cheating on the wife with my paralegal.

Admin with Sunstein was one of the best classes I took while at U of C. He was often difficult to follow, but it all kind of came together in the end. He may not have given us the greatest grounding in the minutiae of admin law (which, let's face it, you can get from any hornbook), but he gave us a great sense of what the administrative state could look like in a perfect world. I also liked that he constantly pointed out unresolved issues in admin law that would be good to research; that was good both for exam prep and for identifying good topics for articles. Good class. Good professor.

More proof that Obama brought them together....

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/022008/02102008/355249

"A noontime speech by two of Obama's policy advisers, University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein and Harvard University government professor Samantha Power, was delayed an hour as the two explored Virginia's rural back roads."

Hahahaha.

Well it does certainly seem like Cass has upgraded:

http://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/samantha_power

compare to:

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/nussbaum

Never could endorse the 'cult of personality' which seems to follow Sunstein. His reputation must be (is) on his academic writings - see: most superstar professors.

However, even there, I hold my doubts. His economic analysis is never up to the level of the 'big boys' with actual econ Ph.Ds - he also seems to have mellowed in the last few years, as his scholarship isn't as provocative as it was in the 80s and 90s.

I'm not sure if this is an actual loss for Chicago. Reputationally, sure, no doubt.: it will hurt Chicgo. However, it may: a. light a fire under the ass of the admin to bring in young guns, b. remove the 'Sunstein cloud' from under the current faculty: combination of a feeling of necessity and a lack of 'academic star-struck' may raise scholarship.

He is cute / funny / blah blah, but I think a lot of Sunstein is built on myth / rumor / infatuation rather than substance.

Law professors are quite possibly the most useless, overpaid people on the planet.

Cass is a manwhore.