Photo (c) Elena Seibert
Stephen L. Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell
Professor of Law at Yale, where he has taught since
1982. A prolific writer who has published seven
critically acclaimed non-fiction books during the
past nine years, he has helped shape the national
debate on issues ranging from the role of religion
in our politics and culture to the role of integrity
and civility in our daily lives.
Professor Carter, 46, was born in Washington, D.C., the second of five
children, and attended the public schools of Washington, New York City,
and Ithaca, New York. He received his bachelor's degree from Stanford
University and his law degree from Yale University. Before joining the
Yale faculty, he served as a law clerk for Judge Spottswood W. Robinson,
III, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit, and for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He also
briefly practiced law at a firm in Washington.
A recent review in the New York Times referred to Professor Carter as
one of the nation's leading public intellectuals, and, in 1994, he was
selected by Time magazine as one of fifty leaders for the new
millennium. Professor Carter's writings have won praise from across the
political spectrum. His most recent book, God's Name in Vain: The Wrongs
and Rights of Religion in Politics, was published in the fall of 2000 to
admiring reviews. His 1993 book, The Culture of Disbelief: How American
Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion, was lauded by
commentators as diverse as Anna Quindlen, William F. Buckley, and former
President Bill Clinton. His 1998 book Civility: Manners, Morals, and the
Etiquette of Democracy, was praised by, among others, Marian Wright
Edelman, the late John Cardinal O'Connor, and former Senator Bill
Bradley. His other books include The Dissent of the Governed: A
Meditation on Law, Religion, and Loyalty (1998); Integrity (1996); The
Confirmation Mess: Cleaning Up the Federal Appointments Process (1994);
and Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby (1991).
Professor Carter is a member of the American Law Institute and a fellow
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a trustee of the
Aspen Institute, where he moderates seminars for executives on
values-based leadership. He has received honorary degrees from six
schools, among them Notre Dame, Colgate, and the Virginia Theological
Seminary. He was the first non-theologian to receive the prestigious
Louisville-Grawemeyer Award in religion. He publishes widely in law
reviews and the popular press, and has been a frequent guest on such
television shows as Nightline, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and Face
the Nation. He is also a columnist for Christianity Today.
Professor Carter lives with is wife, Enola Aird, and their two children,
Leah and Andrew, near New Haven, Connecticut. They attend one of the
oldest predominantly black Episcopal churches in the country. In his
spare time, Professor Carter plays chess, reads history, theology, and
fiction, and helps run a Boy Scout troop in New Haven.
|