Edward L. Rubin

Edward Rubin is University Professor of Law and Political Science at Vanderbilt University. He writes about modern government and society. The central theme of his work is that the administrative state is a practical necessity and a democratically chosen policy that has prevailed in Western nations for more than a century. He wants people to understand how it functions, how we can improve it, and how this momentous change in the way we govern ourselves affects the way we think about law and politics and the way we decide what is moral or immoral.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Rubin received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and law degree from Yale Law School. After clerking for Judge Jon Newman on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and practicing entertainment law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, Rubin joined the law faculty of the University of California, Berkeley and then the University of Pennsylvania. Dean of Vanderbilt Law School until 2009, Rubin continues to teach and write at Vanderbilt and has served as a consultant to the People’s Republic of China and a member of various professional associations.