Rachel Bayefsky

Rachel Bayefsky writes about constitutional law, federal courts, civil procedure and legal theory. Her work addresses both the practical workings of legal institutions and underlying philosophical ideas. For example, she has analyzed the concept of tradition in constitutional theory and the legal function of dignity, in addition to doctrines involving justiciability and equitable remedies. She also has an interest in international law and transnational civil litigation in U.S. courts.

Bayefsky’s book "Dignity and Judicial Authority" was published by Oxford University Press. Her pieces have been published or are forthcoming in journals including the Cornell Law Review, the Georgetown Law Journal, the Virginia Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Harvard Law Review Forum and NYU Law Review Online.

Prior to joining the faculty, Bayefsky clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Bayefsky also taught at Harvard Law School as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law, and worked as a litigator at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, D.C. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, and her D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar