Cass Sunstein

{{Short description|American legal scholar (born 1954)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}}{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}

{{Infobox officeholder | name = Cass Sunstein | image = Cass Sunstein in 2008 (3x4 cropped).jpg | caption = Sunstein in 2008 | office = Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs | president = Barack Obama | term_start = September 10, 2009 | term_end = August 21, 2012 | predecessor = Kevin Neyland (acting) | successor = Boris Bershteyn (acting) | birth_name = Cass Robert Sunstein | birth_date = {{nowrap|{{birth date and age|1954|9|21}}}} | birth_place = Concord, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Lisa Ruddick|||end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Samantha Power|2008}} }} | children = 3 | education = Harvard University (BA, JD) | module = {{Infobox academic | child=yes | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = Robert Walmsley University Professor | boards =  | awards = Holberg Prize (2018) | website = | education = | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = | era = | discipline = Constitutional law | sub_discipline = | workplaces = Harvard University University of Chicago | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = ''The World According to Star Wars'' (2016) ''Nudge'' (2008) | notable_ideas = Nudging | influenced = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} }} '''Cass Robert Sunstein''' (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ''The World According to Star Wars'' (2016) and ''Nudge'' (2008). He was the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2012.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kakutani |first=Michiko |author-link=Michiko Kakutani |date=April 8, 2013 |title=Be Fruitful and Simplify! |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/books/simpler-and-simple.html |access-date=November 12, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref>

Sunstein serves as the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School. He was previously a professor at the University of Chicago Law School from 1981 to 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2008/02/19_sunstein.php |title=Sunstein to join Harvard Law School faculty |publisher=Law.harvard.edu |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/02/sunstein-a-university-professor/|title=Sunstein a University Professor|work=Harvard Gazette|date=February 19, 2013}}</ref> In 2014, studies of legal publications found Sunstein to be the most frequently cited American legal scholar by a wide margin.<ref>[http://www.leiterrankings.com/faculty/2014_scholarlyimpact.shtml 2014 Scholarly Impact – Leitner Rankings].</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Farris | first1=Nick | last2=Aggerbeck | first2=Valerie | last3=McNevin | first3=Megan | last4=Sisk | first4=Gregory C. | title=Judicial Impact of Law School Faculties | journal=SSRN Electronic Journal | date=2016 | issn=1556-5068 | doi=10.2139/ssrn.2826048 | page=| doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Nudge Theory}}

==Early life and education== Cass Robert Sunstein was born on September 21, 1954, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Marian (née Goodrich), a teacher, and Cass Richard Sunstein, a builder.<ref>{{Cite book |url= |title=Contemporary Authors |title-link=Contemporary Authors |publisher=Gale, Cengage Learning |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4103-2312-5 |editor-last=Ruby |editor-first=Mary |series=New Revision Series |volume=308 |location= |page=[https://archive.org/details/contemporaryauth0308unse/page/377/mode/1up 377] |chapter=Cass R. Suntein 1954– |issn=0275-7176 |chapter-url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/sunstein-cass-r-1954}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Current Biography Yearbook |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8242-1095-3 |editor-last=Thompson |editor-first=Clifford |page=[https://archive.org/details/currentbiography0000unse_w4d9/page/562/mode/1up 562] |publisher=H.W. Wilson |issn=0084-9499 |oclc=1193384168}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=May 12, 2009 |title=Nomination of Cass R. Sunstein to be Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs |url=https://www.congress.gov/111/chrg/shrg51041/CHRG-111shrg51041.htm |quote=" ... and my father, Cass Richard Sunstein, who, like Senator Akaka, fought in World War II"}}</ref> He has said that as a teenager, he was briefly infatuated with the works of Ayn Rand, "[b]ut after about six weeks of enchantment, her books started to make me sick. Contemptuous toward most of humanity, merciless about human frailty, and constantly hammering on the moral evils of redistribution, they produced a sense of claustrophobia."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sunstein|first=Cass R.|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/04/09/ayn-rand-siren-selfishness/|title=The Siren of Selfishness|journal=New York Review of Books|date=April 9, 2020|access-date=March 19, 2020|language=en|issn=0028-7504}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |date=April 9, 2020 |title=The Siren of Selfishness |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/04/09/ayn-rand-siren-selfishness/?srsltid=AfmBOooOXPGSATuHE-WWoqEQtRRFiFOIUR6NJPICvZfr1ie_7yeZk-i_ |access-date=December 19, 2024 |work=The New York Review of Books |language=en |volume=67 |issue=6 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref>

Sunstein graduated from Middlesex School in 1972. He then went to Harvard University, where he was a member of the varsity squash team and an editor of the ''Harvard Lampoon.'' He graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts, ''magna cum laude''. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was an executive editor of the ''Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review'' and was on the winning team of the Ames Moot Court Competition. He graduated in 1978 with a Juris Doctor, ''magna cum laude''.

==Career== After law school, Sunstein was a law clerk to Justice Benjamin Kaplan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1978 to 1979 and to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1979 to 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.law.uchicago.edu/node/3552/cv|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906105108/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/node/3552/cv|url-status=dead|title=Cass R. Sunstein : Curriculum Vitae|archivedate=September 6, 2013|accessdate=December 12, 2021}}</ref>

After his clerkships, Sunstein spent one year as an attorney-advisor in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. In 1981, he became an assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School (1981–1983), where he also became an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science (1983–1985). In 1985, Sunstein was made a full professor of both political science and law; in 1988, he was named the Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence in the Law School and Department of Political Science. The university honored him in 1993 with its "distinguished service" accolade, permanently changing his title to Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence in the Law School and Department of Political Science. In 2009, Sunstein was described by fellow Chicago professor Douglas G. Baird as a "Chicago person through and through".<ref>{{Cite news|title=Ivory Tower of Power|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2009-03-22-0903200725-story.html |newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=March 22, 2009|access-date=January 21, 2021 |first=Tom|last=Hundley}}</ref>

Sunstein was the Samuel Rubin Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia Law School in the fall of 1986 and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in the spring 1987, winter 2005, and spring 2007 terms. He has taught courses in constitutional law, administrative law, and environmental law, as well as the required first-year course "Elements of the Law", which was an introduction to legal reasoning, legal theory, and the interdisciplinary study of law, including law and economics. In the fall of 2008, he joined the faculty of Harvard Law School and began serving as the director of its Program on Risk Regulation:<ref name="Law.harvard.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2008/02/19_sunstein.php |title=HLS: News: Sunstein to join Harvard Law School faculty |publisher=Law.harvard.edu |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref>

<blockquote>The Program on Risk Regulation will focus on how law and policy deal with the central hazards of the 21st century. Anticipated areas of study include terrorism, climate change, occupational safety, infectious diseases, natural disasters, and other low-probability, high-consequence events. Sunstein plans to rely on significant student involvement in the work of this new program.<ref name="Law.harvard.edu" /></blockquote>

On January 7, 2009, ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported that Sunstein would be named to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Weisman |first1=Jonathan |last2=Bravin |first2=Jess |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123138051682263203 |title=Obama's Regulatory Czar Likely to Set a New Tone |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 8, 2009 |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref> That news generated controversy among progressive legal scholars<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.progressivereform.org/SunsteinOIRA.cfm |title=Choices for OIRA: Reinvigorating Protection of Health, Safety, and the Environment |publisher=Center for Progressive Reform |access-date=July 27, 2012 |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626114428/http://www.progressivereform.org/SunsteinOIRA.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and environmentalists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thinkprogress.org/how-anti-regulation-is-obamas-new-regulatory-czar-bb113a8eaf27/|title = How Anti-Regulation is Obama's New Regulatory Czar?|website = ThinkProgress| date=January 10, 2009 }}</ref> Sunstein's confirmation was long blocked because of controversy over allegations about his political and academic views. On September 9, 2009, the Senate voted for cloture<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress – 1st Session|url=http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00273|publisher=U.S. Senate| date=September 9, 2009|access-date=July 8, 2014}}</ref> on Sunstein's nomination as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. The motion passed in a 63–35 vote. The Senate confirmed Sunstein on September 10, 2009, in a 57–40 vote.

In his research on risk regulation, Sunstein is known for developing, together with Timur Kuran, the concept of availability cascades, wherein popular discussion of an idea is self-feeding and causes individuals to over weigh its importance.

Sunstein's books include ''After the Rights Revolution'' (1990), ''The Partial Constitution'' (1993), ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'' (1993), ''Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict'' (1996), ''Free Markets and Social Justice'' (1997), ''One Case at a Time'' (1999), ''Risk and Reason'' (2002), ''Why Societies Need Dissent'' (2003), ''Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle'' (2005), ''Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America'' (2005), ''Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary'' (2005), ''Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge'' (2006), and, co-authored with Richard Thaler, ''Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness'' (2008).

Sunstein's 2006 book, ''Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge'', explores methods for aggregating information; it contains discussions of prediction markets, open-source software, and wikis. Sunstein's 2004 book, ''The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever'', advocates the Second Bill of Rights proposed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Among these rights are a right to an education, a right to a home, a right to health care, and a right to protection against monopolies; Sunstein argues that the Second Bill of Rights has had a large international impact and should be revived in the United States. His 2001 book, ''Republic.com'', argued that the Internet may weaken democracy because it allows citizens to isolate themselves within groups that share their own views and experiences, and thus cut themselves off from any information that might challenge their beliefs, a phenomenon known as cyberbalkanization.

Sunstein co-authored ''Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness'' (Yale University Press, 2008) with economist Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago. ''Nudge'' discusses how public and private organizations can help people make better choices in their daily lives. Thaler and Sunstein argue that:

<blockquote>People often make poor choices – and look back at them with bafflement! We do this because as human beings, we all are susceptible to a wide array of routine biases that can lead to an equally wide array of embarrassing blunders in education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, happiness, and even the planet itself.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}}</blockquote>

The ideas in the book proved popular with politicians such as U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and the British Conservative Party in general.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2008/aug/22/davidcameron.conservatives|title=Speak 'Nudge': The 10 key phrases from David Cameron's favourite book|author=Andrew Sparrow|work=The Guardian |date=August 22, 2008|access-date=September 9, 2009 | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article4330267.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120093555/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article4330267.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 20, 2008|title=Why Barack Obama and David Cameron are keen to 'nudge' you|work=The Times |author=Carol Lewis |date=July 22, 2009|access-date=September 9, 2009 | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/839676/nudge-nudge-meet-the-cameroons-new-guru.thtml|title=Nudge, nudge: meet the Cameroons' new guru|work=The Spectator|author=James Forsyth|date=July 16, 2009|access-date=September 9, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124222449/http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/839676/nudge-nudge-meet-the-cameroons-new-guru.thtml|archive-date=January 24, 2009}}</ref> The "Nudge" idea has also been criticized. Dr. Tammy Boyce, from public health foundation The King's Fund, has said: <blockquote>We need to move away from short-term, politically motivated initiatives such as the 'nudging people' idea, which are not based on any good evidence and don't help people make long-term behavior changes.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/unhealthy-lifestyles-here-to-stay-in-spite-of-costly-campaigns-1055693.html | work=The Independent | location=London | title=Unhealthy lifestyles here to stay, in spite of costly campaigns | first=Nina | last=Lakhani | date=December 7, 2008 | access-date=April 28, 2010}}</ref></blockquote>

Contributing to the anthology ''Our American Story'' (2019), Sunstein addressed the possibility of a shared American narrative. He cited the concepts of self-government and equal dignity of human beings, but focused in particular on stories: "an emphasis on what happened before and after the firing shots in Concord and the courageous response of the embattled farmers maintains continuity with the historical facts and offers us something on which we can build."<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Claybourn |editor-first1=Joshua |editor-link1=Joshua Claybourn |title=Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative |date=2019 |publisher=Potomac Books |location=Lincoln, NE |isbn=978-1-64012-170-6 |pages=151–159 }}</ref>

Sunstein is a contributing editor to ''The New Republic'' and ''The American Prospect'' and is a frequent witness before congressional committees. He played an active role in opposing the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998.

In recent years, Sunstein has been a guest writer on ''The Volokh Conspiracy'' blog as well as the blogs of law professors Lawrence Lessig (Harvard) and Jack Balkin (Yale). He is considered so prolific a writer that in 2007, an article in the legal publication ''The Green Bag'' coined the concept of a "Sunstein number" reflecting degrees of separation between various legal authors and Sunstein, paralleling the Erdős numbers sometimes assigned to mathematician authors.<ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Edelman | first1 = Paul H. | last2 = George | first2 = Tracey E. | title = Six Degrees of Cass Sunstein | journal = The Green Bag | volume = 11 | issue = 1 | pages = 19–36 | url = http://www.greenbag.org/v11n1/v11n1_edelman_and_george.pdf | year = 2007}}</ref>

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1992), the American Law Institute (since 1990), and the American Philosophical Society (elected 2010).<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Cass+R.+Sunstein&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=April 21, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He received an Honorary Doctorate from Copenhagen Business School.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/departments-and-centres/department-of-management-society-and-communication|title=Department of Management, Society and Communication – CBS – Copenhagen Business School|date=January 6, 2017}}</ref>

In February 2020, he wrote an article for Bloomberg titled "The Cognitive Bias That Makes Us Panic About Coronavirus".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloombergquint.com/gadfly/coronavirus-panic-caused-by-probability-neglect|title=The Cognitive Bias That Makes Us Panic About Coronavirus|work=Bloomberg L.P.|first=Cass R.|last=Sunstein|date=February 28, 2020|accessdate=April 18, 2022}}</ref> In it he claimed that "A lot more people are more scared than they have any reason to be" and that "Most people in North America and Europe do not need to worry much about the risk of contracting the disease. That's true even for people who are traveling to nations such as Italy that have seen outbreaks of the disease." He attributed the excessive perceived risk to probability neglect. At the time of publication, there were 68 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., including one death, and approximately 1000 new daily cases worldwide, over 300 of which in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1105613/covid19-new-daily-cases-worldwide-by-region/|title = COVID-19 new daily cases worldwide by region 2020}}</ref>

Sunstein joined the Department of Homeland Security in February 2021 as an advisor to the Biden administration on immigration policy.<ref>{{cite news |last=Epstein |first=Jennifer |date=February 8, 2021 |title=Harvard's Sunstein Joins Biden's DHS to Shape Immigration Rules |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-08/harvard-s-sunstein-joins-biden-s-dhs-to-shape-immigration-rules |work=Bloomberg |access-date=January 15, 2022}}</ref>

Together with Daniel Kahneman and Olivier Sibony, Sunstein co-authored ''Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment'', which was published in May 2021. Drawing not least upon legal examples, it treats unwanted variability in human judgments of the same problem, for instance, when court judges recommend vastly different sentences for the same crimes. The book looks both at what 'noise in human judgment' is, how it can be detected, and how it can be reduced.

Since 2021, Sunstein has co-taught a class on the United States Supreme Court at Harvard alongside retired Justice Stephen Breyer.<ref>{{citation |title=The United States Supreme Court |url=https://hls.harvard.edu/courses/the-united-states-supreme-court-3/ |access-date=May 7, 2024}} </ref>

==Views== ===Legal philosophy=== {{republicanism sidebar}} Sunstein is a proponent of judicial minimalism, arguing that judges should focus primarily on deciding the case at hand, and avoid making sweeping changes to the law or decisions that have broad-reaching effects. Some view him as liberal,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Goldstein |first=Tom |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-next-justice?page=0,3 |title=The Next Justice: What to expect in the coming months |magazine=The New Republic |date=April 9, 2010 |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref> despite Sunstein's public support for George W. Bush's judicial nominees Michael W. McConnell and John G. Roberts,<ref>{{cite web|last=Lee |first=Tim |url=http://theamericanscene.com/2007/11/14/sunstein-on-the-second-amendment |title=Sunstein on the Second Amendment |publisher=The American Scene |date=November 14, 2007 |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref> as well as providing strongly maintained theoretical support for the death penalty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1162&context=public_law_and_legal_theory|title=Is Capital Punishment Morally Required? The Relevance of Life-Life Tradeoffs|author=Cass Sunstein|date=2005}}</ref> Conservative libertarian legal scholar Richard A. Epstein described Sunstein as "one of the more conservative players in the Obama administration".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/epstein-criticizes-sunsteins-critics|title=Epstein Criticizes Sunstein's Critics|last=Epstein|first=Richard|date=September 15, 2009 }}</ref>

Much of his work also brings behavioral economics to bear on law, suggesting that the "rational actor" model will sometimes produce an inadequate understanding of how people will respond to legal intervention.

Sunstein has collaborated with academics who have training in behavioral economics, most notably Daniel Kahneman, Richard Thaler, and Christine M. Jolls, to show how the theoretical assumptions of law and economics should be modified by new empirical findings about how people actually behave. {{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

According to Sunstein, the interpretation of federal law should be made not by judges but by the beliefs and commitments of the U.S. president and those around him. "There is no reason to believe that in the face of statutory ambiguity, the meaning of federal law should be settled by the inclinations and predispositions of federal judges. The outcome should instead depend on the commitments and beliefs of the President and those who operate under him", argued Sunstein.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sunstein |first=Cass |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Beyond+Marbury%3a+the+executive%27s+power+to+say+what+the+law+is.-a0154908627 |title=Beyond Marbury: The Executive's Power To Say What the Law Is |publisher=The Yale Law Journal www.yalelawjournal.org/ |date=September 25, 2006 |access-date=August 7, 2013}}</ref>

Sunstein (along with his coauthor Richard Thaler) has elaborated the theory of libertarian paternalism. In arguing for this theory, he counsels thinkers/academics/politicians to embrace the findings of behavioral economics as applied to law, maintaining freedom of choice while also steering peoples' decisions in directions that will make their lives go better. With Thaler, he coined the term "choice architect".<ref name=Nudge />

===Military commissions=== In 2002, at the height of controversy over Bush's creation of military commissions without congressional approval, Sunstein stepped forward to insist, "Under existing law, President George W. Bush has the legal authority to use military commissions" and that "President Bush's choice stands on firm legal ground." Sunstein scorned as "ludicrous" an argument from law professor George P. Fletcher, who believed that the Supreme Court would find Bush's military commissions without any legal basis.<ref name=milcom>{{cite web|url=http://prospect.org/article/military-tribunal-debate|title=The Military Tribunal Debate|work=The American Prospect|date=March 6, 2002}}</ref> In 2006, the Supreme Court found the tribunals illegal in ''Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'' in a 5–3 vote.

===First Amendment=== In his book ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'' Sunstein says there is a need to reformulate First Amendment law. He thinks that the current formulation, based on Justice Holmes' conception of free speech as a marketplace, "disserves the aspirations of those who wrote America's founding document."<ref>Cass R. Sunstein, ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'', The Free Press, 1995, p. 119e</ref> The purpose of this reformulation would be to "reinvigorate processes of democratic deliberation, by ensuring greater attention to public issues and greater diversity of views."<ref name="Cass R. Sunstein 1995, p. 119">Sunstein, ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'', p. 119</ref> He is concerned by the present "situation in which like-minded people speak or listen mostly to one another",<ref>Cass Sunstein, Republic.com 2.0 (Princeton University Press, 2007), p. xii</ref> and thinks that in "light of astonishing economic and technological changes, we must doubt whether, as interpreted, the constitutional guarantee of free speech is adequately serving democratic goals."<ref>Sunstein, ''Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech'', p. xi</ref> He proposes a "New Deal for speech [that] would draw on Justice Brandeis' insistence on the role of free speech in promoting political deliberation and citizenship."<ref name="Cass R. Sunstein 1995, p. 119" />

=== Animal rights === Some of Sunstein's work has addressed the question of animal rights, as he co-authored a book dealing with the subject, has written papers on it, and was an invited speaker at "Facing Animals", an event at Harvard University described as "a groundbreaking panel on animals in ethics and the law".<ref name="Facing Animals">[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2586700172704318361&ei=o8XjSpPAKpXdlQf1-vGtBQ&q=May+9%2C+2007%2C+speech+at+Harvard&hl=en&client=firefox-a Facing Animals] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629062643/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2586700172704318361&ei=o8XjSpPAKpXdlQf1-vGtBQ&q=May+9,+2007,+speech+at+Harvard&hl=en&client=firefox-a |date=June 29, 2011 }} May 9, 2007, speech at Harvard from Google video</ref> "Every reasonable person believes in animal rights", he says, continuing that "we might conclude that certain practices cannot be defended and should not be allowed to continue, if, in practice, mere regulation will inevitably be insufficient – and if, in practice, mere regulation will ensure that the level of animal suffering will remain very high."<ref name="AnimalRights">{{cite journal | last=Sunstein | first=Cass R. | title=The Rights of Animals | volume=70 | issue=1 | orig-year=2003| website=Chicago Unbound | date=February 1, 2016 | url=https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclrev/vol70/iss1/25/ | access-date=March 16, 2025}}</ref>

Sunstein's views on animal rights generated controversy when Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) blocked his appointment to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs by Obama.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bolton |first=Alexander |date=June 28, 2009 |title=Chambliss blocks regulatory pick over animal lawsuits |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/44290-chambliss-blocks-regulatory-pick-over-animal-lawsuits/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610192214/https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/44290-chambliss-blocks-regulatory-pick-over-animal-lawsuits/ |archive-date=June 10, 2023 |access-date=November 12, 2025 |work=The Hill |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref> Chambliss objected to the introduction of ''Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions'', a volume edited by Sunstein and his then-companion Martha Nussbaum. On page 11 of the introduction, during a philosophical discussion about whether animals should be thought of as owned by humans, Sunstein notes that personhood need not be conferred upon an animal in order to grant it various legal protections against abuse or cruelty, even including legal standing for suit. For example, under current law, if someone saw their neighbor beating a dog, they cannot sue for animal cruelty because they do not have legal standing to do so. Sunstein suggests that granting standing to animals, actionable by other parties, could decrease animal cruelty by increasing the likelihood that animal abuse will be punished.

=== Taxation === Sunstein has argued, "We should celebrate tax day."<ref name="home.uchicago.edu">{{Cite web|title=Why we Should Celebrate Paying Taxes|url=http://home.uchicago.edu/~csunstei/celebrate.html|access-date=November 29, 2021|website=home.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Sunstein argues that since government (in the form of police, fire departments, insured banks, and courts) protects and preserves property and liberty, individuals should happily finance it with their tax dollars:

<blockquote> In what sense is the money in our pockets and bank accounts fully 'ours'? Did we earn it by our own autonomous efforts? Could we have inherited it without the assistance of probate courts? Do we save it without the support of bank regulators? Could we spend it if there were no public officials to coordinate the efforts and pool the resources of the community in which we live? Without taxes, there would be no liberty. Without taxes there would be no property. Without taxes, few of us would have any assets worth defending. [It is] a dim fiction that some people enjoy and exercise their rights without placing any burden whatsoever on the public... There is no liberty without dependency.<ref name="home.uchicago.edu"/> </blockquote>

Sunstein goes on to say: <blockquote>If government could not intervene effectively, none of the individual rights to which Americans have become accustomed could be reliably protected.... This is why the overused distinction between "negative" and "positive" rights makes little sense. Rights to private property, freedom of speech, immunity from police abuse, contractual liberty, free exercise of religion – just as much as rights to Social Security, Medicare and food stamps – are taxpayer-funded and government-managed social services designed to improve collective and individual well-being.<ref name="home.uchicago.edu"/></blockquote>

=== Marriage === In ''Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness'', Sunstein proposes that government recognition of marriage be discontinued. "Under our proposal, the word marriage would no longer appear in any laws, and marriage licenses would no longer be offered or recognized by any level of government", argues Sunstein. He continues, "the only legal status states would confer on couples would be a civil union, which would be a domestic partnership agreement between any two people." He goes on further, "Governments would not be asked to endorse any particular relationships by conferring on them the term marriage", and refers to state-recognized marriage as an "official license scheme".<ref name=Nudge>{{cite book |title=Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness |last=Thaler |first=Richard H. |author2=Sunstein, Cass R. |year=2008 |publisher=Caravan Books |isbn=978-0-300-12223-7 }}</ref> Sunstein addressed the Senate on July 11, 1996, advising against the Defense of Marriage Act.<ref name=Senate>{{cite book |title=The Defense of Marriage Act: hearing before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee |year=1996|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-16-052993-1 |url=https://archive.org/stream/defenseofmarriag00unit#page/42/mode/2up}}</ref>

=== Conspiracy theories and government infiltration === Sunstein co-authored a 2008 paper with Adrian Vermeule, titled "Conspiracy Theories", dealing with the risks and possible government responses to conspiracy theories resulting from "cascades" of faulty information within groups that may ultimately lead to violence. In this article they wrote, "The existence of both domestic and foreign conspiracy theories, we suggest, is no trivial matter, posing real risks to the government's antiterrorism policies, whatever the latter may be." They go on to propose that, "the best response consists in cognitive infiltration of extremist groups",<ref name=conspiracy>{{cite journal | last1=Sunstein | first1=Cass R. | last2=Vermeule | first2=Adrian | title=Conspiracy Theories | journal=SSRN Electronic Journal | date=2008 | issn=1556-5068 |ssrn=1084585 |s2cid=55831850 | doi=10.2139/ssrn.1084585 | pages=1–29| doi-access=free }}</ref> where they suggest, among other tactics, "Government agents (and their allies) might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action."<ref name=conspiracy /> They refer, several times, to groups that promote the view that the US Government was responsible or complicit in the September 11 attacks as "extremist groups". The authors declare that there are five hypothetical responses a government can take toward conspiracy theories: "We can readily imagine a series of possible responses. (1) Government might ban conspiracy theorizing. (2) Government might impose some kind of tax, financial or otherwise, on those who disseminate such theories. (3) Government might itself engage in counterspeech, marshaling arguments to discredit conspiracy theories. (4) Government might formally hire credible private parties to engage in counterspeech. (5) Government might engage in informal communication with such parties, encouraging them to help." However, the authors advocate that each "instrument has a distinctive set of potential effects, or costs and benefits, and each will have a place under imaginable conditions. However, our main policy idea is that government should engage in cognitive infiltration of the groups that produce conspiracy theories, which involves a mix of (3), (4) and (5)."

Sunstein and Vermeule also analyze the practice of recruiting "nongovernmental officials"; they suggest that "government can supply these independent experts with information and perhaps prod them into action from behind the scenes", further warning that "too close a connection will be self-defeating if it is exposed."<ref name=conspiracy /> Sunstein and Vermeule argue that the practice of enlisting non-government officials, "might ensure that credible independent experts offer the rebuttal, rather than government officials themselves. There is a tradeoff between credibility and control, however. The price of credibility is that government cannot be seen to control the independent experts." This position has been criticized by some commentators<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rawstory.com/2010/01/obama-staffer-infiltration-911-groups/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129231203/http://rawstory.com/2010/01/obama-staffer-infiltration-911-groups/|url-status=dead|title=Obama staffer wants 'cognitive infiltration' of 9/11 conspiracy groups|date=January 14, 2010|archivedate=January 29, 2016|website=Raw Story – Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism|accessdate=December 12, 2021}}</ref><ref>[http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/01/18/stealth-propaganda/?test=latestnews] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121133714/http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/01/18/stealth-propaganda/?test=latestnews|date=January 21, 2010}}</ref> who argue that it would violate prohibitions on government propaganda aimed at domestic citizens.<ref>{{cite news|last=Greenwald |first=Glenn |url=https://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/ |title=Obama confidant's spine-chilling proposal |work=Salon.com |date=January 15, 2010 |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref> Sunstein and Vermeule's proposed infiltrations have also been met by sharply critical scholarly responses.<ref>David Ray Griffin, ''Cognitive Infiltration, An Obama Appointee's Plan To Undermine The 9/11 Conspiracy Theory''. Olive Branch Press, {{ISBN|978-1-56656-821-0}}</ref><ref>Kurtis Hagen, "Is Infiltration of 'Extremist Groups' Justified?" ''International Journal of Applied Philosophy'' 24.2 (Fall 2010) 153–68.</ref><ref>Kurtis Hagen, "Conspiracy Theories and Stylized Facts," ''Journal for Peace and Justice Studies'' 21.2 (Fall 2011) 3–22.</ref><ref>Lance deHaven-Smith, ''[http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/dehcon Conspiracy Theory in America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006223444/http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/dehcon |date=October 6, 2016 }}''. University of Texas Press, 2014. {{ISBN|978-0-292-75769-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Coady|first=David|date=2018|title=Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule on Conspiracy Theories [Special Issue]|url=https://www.argumenta.org/article/cass-sunstein-adrian-vermeule-conspiracy-theories-special-issue/|journal=Argumenta – Journal of Analytic Philosophy|language=en-US|volume=3|issue=2|pages=291–302}}</ref>

==Personal life== In the 1980s and early 1990s, Sunstein was married to Lisa Ruddick, whom he met when both were undergraduates at Harvard.<ref name=Stein>{{cite book |last= Ruddick |first= Lisa Cole |title= Gertrude Stein–Body, Text, Gnosis |page= xv |publisher= Cornell University Press |series= Reading women writing |year= 1990 |isbn= 978-0-8014-9957-9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m_mVWRPShyYC&pg=PR15 |access-date=October 27, 2020}}</ref> She was associate professor of English at the University of Chicago, specializing in British modernism, and is now retired.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.uchicago.edu/faculty/lisa-ruddick |title=Lisa Ruddick {{!}} Department of English Language and Literature |website=english.uchicago.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027062915/http://english.uchicago.edu/faculty/lisa-ruddick |archive-date=October 27, 2015}}</ref> Their marriage ended in divorce. Their daughter Ellyn is a journalist and photographer.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kail|first1=Ellyn|title=An Interview With My Father, Cass Sunstein|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/and-interview-with-my-fat_b_10279020|date=June 4, 2017|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=May 31, 2020}}</ref> Thereafter, Sunstein dated Martha Nussbaum for almost a decade.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Buckley|first1=Cara|title=A Monster of a Slip|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/fashion/16samantha.html|access-date=October 12, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=March 16, 2008}}</ref> Nussbaum is a philosopher, classicist, and professor of law at the University of Chicago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=523920 |title=Sunstein and Power, Harvard Power Couple, Tie the Knot |work=The Harvard Crimson |date=July 7, 2008 |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref>

On July 4, 2008, Sunstein married Samantha Power, a diplomat and government official who would serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations, whom he met when they both worked as campaign advisors to Barack Obama.<ref>{{cite news |first= Jodi |last= Kantor |title= Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Slightly Apart |date= July 30, 2008 |work = The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30law.html?ex=1375156800&en=337ecbaa93d25b8c&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink |access-date= October 27, 2008 }} </ref> The wedding took place in the Church of Mary Immaculate, in Lohar, Waterville, Ireland.<ref>[http://abovethelaw.com/2008/07/cass_sunstein_samantha_power_wedding.php] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20080713115452/http://abovethelaw.com/2008/07/cass_sunstein_samantha_power_wedding.php|date=July 13, 2008}}</ref> They have two children: a son (born 2009)<ref>{{cite news| url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/04/samantha_power_cass_sunstein_w.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015024947/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/04/samantha_power_cass_sunstein_w.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 15, 2012 | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=New Baby for New D.C. Power Couple}}</ref> and a daughter (born 2012).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/30/nyregion/un-ambassadors-good-will-served-over-pasta-and-salad.html |website=The New York Times |date=December 29, 2015 |title=Pint-Size Diplomacy at Play in U.N. Ambassador's Penthouse |author-last=Dwyer |author-first=Jim}}</ref>

Sunstein is an avid amateur squash player who has played against professionals in PSA tournaments<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/04/squash/391745/|title=How Far Can an Amateur Make It in a Professional Sports Tournament?|first=Cass R.|last=Sunstein|website=The Atlantic|date=April 29, 2015}}</ref> and in 2017 was ranked 449th in the world by the Professional Squash Association.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://psaworldtour.com/players/view/7783/info|title=Cass Sunstein – Professional Squash Association|website=psaworldtour.com}}</ref>

==Honors== In July 2017, Sunstein was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.<ref>{{cite web|title=Elections to the British Academy celebrate the diversity of UK research|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/news/elections-british-academy-celebrate-diversity-uk-research|website=British Academy|access-date=July 29, 2017|date=July 2, 2017}}</ref>

In 2018 he was awarded the Holberg Prize for having "reshaped our understanding of the relationship between the modern regulatory state and constitutional law. He is widely regarded as the leading scholar of administrative law in the U.S., and he is by far the most cited legal scholar in the United States and probably the world."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://holberg.uib.no/en/news/holberg-prize/holberg-prize-and-nils-klim-prize-laureates-2017-announced|title=Holberg Prize and Nils Klim Prize Laureates 2018 Announced|date=March 10, 2017|work=Holbergprisen|access-date=March 14, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801153300/http://holberg.uib.no/en/news/holberg-prize/holberg-prize-and-nils-klim-prize-laureates-2017-announced|archive-date=August 1, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2026, he was made an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/top-stories/featured/scholars-and-fellows-2026/ |title=Trinity celebrates new Scholars and Fellows |date=2026-04-20 |access-date=2026-04-24}}</ref>

==Publications==

===Books=== '''1990–1999''' * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Feminism and Political Theory |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-226-78008-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/feminis_xxx_1990_00_8583 }} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Stone |first2=Geoffrey R. |last3=Epstein |first3=Richard A. |author-link2=Geoffrey R. Stone |author-link3=Richard Allen Epstein |title=The Bill of Rights and the Modern State |url=https://archive.org/details/billofrightsinmo0000ston |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-226-77532-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=After the Rights Revolution: Reconceiving the Regulatory State |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Harvard |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-674-00909-7}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=The Partial Constitution |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Harvard |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-674-65478-5}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Democracy and the problem of free speech |publisher=The Free Press |location=New York |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-02-874000-3}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict |url=https://archive.org/details/legalreasoningpo00suns_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-511804-9}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Free Markets and Social Justice |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-510273-4}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Nussbaum |first2=Martha C. |author-link2=Martha Nussbaum |title=Clones and Clones: Facts and Fantasies about Human Cloning |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York London |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-393-32001-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/clonesclones00wwno }} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=One Case at a Time: Judicial Minimalism on the Supreme Court |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Harvard |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-674-00579-2}}

'''2000–2009''' * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Holmes |first2=Stephen |author-link2=Stephen Holmes (academic) |title=The Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes |publisher=W. W. Norton |location=New York London |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-393-04670-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Behavioral Law and Economics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-66743-2}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Epstein |first2=Richard A. |author-link2=Richard Allen Epstein |title=The Vote: Bush, Gore & the Supreme Court |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-226-21307-1}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-514542-7}} * {{cite book |title=Republic.com |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-691-07025-4 |location=Princeton |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |url=https://archive.org/details/republiccom00suns }} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Hastie |first2=Reid |last3=Payne |first3=John W.|author4-link=David Schkade|last4=Schkade |first4=David |last5=Viscusi |first5=W. Kip |author-link5=W. Kip Viscusi |title=Punitive Damages: How Juries Decide |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-226-78015-3}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=The Cost-Benefit State: The Future of Regulatory Protection |publisher=American Bar Association |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-59031-054-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Risk and reason: Safety, law, and the environment |url=https://archive.org/details/riskreason00cass |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-01625-4}} ::Translation: {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Riesgo y razón. Seguridad, ley y medioambiente |publisher=Katz Editores |location=Buenos Aires Madrid |year=2006 |language=es |isbn=978-84-609-8350-7}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Why Societies Need Dissent |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Harvard |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-674-01268-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/whysoci_sun_2003_00_3024 }} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Nussbaum |first2=Martha |author-link2=Martha Nussbaum |title=Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford New York |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-530510-4}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=The Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-61512-9}} (based on the Seeley Lectures 2004 at Cambridge University) ::Translation: {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Leyes de miedo: Más allá del principio de precaución |publisher=Katz Editores |location=Buenos Aires Madrid |year=2009 |language=es |isbn=978-84-96859-61-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts are Wrong for America |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-465-08327-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/radicalsinrobesw00suns }} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=The Second Bill of Rights: Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More Than Ever |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-465-08333-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-534067-9}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Schkade |first2=David |last3=Ellman |first3=Lisa |last4=Sawicki |first4=Andres |title=Are Judges Political? An Empirical Investigation of the Federal Judiciary |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |location=Washington, D.C. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8157-8234-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Republic.com 2.0 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-691-13356-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Worst-Case Scenarios |url=https://archive.org/details/worstcasescenari0000suns |url-access=registration |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Harvard |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-674-03251-4}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Thaler |first2=Richard |author-link2=Richard Thaler |title=Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-14-311526-7|title-link=Nudge (book) }} ::Translation: {{cite book |title=Un pequeño empujón |publisher=Taurus |location=Barcelona |year=2009 |language=es |isbn=978-607-31-6206-7}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Going to Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-975412-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-691-16250-8}} '''2010–2019''' * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Law and Happiness |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-226-67600-5}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Breyer |first2=Stephen G. |last3=Stewart |first3=Richard B. |last4=Vermeule |first4=Adrian |last5=Herz |first5=Michael |author-link2=Stephen G. Breyer |author-link4=Adrian Vermeule |title=Administrative Law and Regulatory Policy: Problems, Text, and Cases |publisher=Wolters Kluwer Law & Business |location=New York |year=2011 |edition=7th |isbn=978-0-7355-8744-1}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Simpler: The Future of Government |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4767-2659-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/simplerfutureofg0000suns }} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Stone |first2=Geoffrey R. |last3=Seidman |first3=Louis M. |last4=Tushnet |first4=Mark V. |last5=Karlan |first5=Pamela S. |author-link2=Geoffrey R. Stone |author-link3=Louis Michael Seidman |author-link4=Mark V. Tushnet |author-link5=Pamela S. Karlan |title=Constitutional Law |publisher=Wolters Kluwer Law & Business |location=New York |year=2013 |edition=7th |isbn=978-1-4548-1757-4}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Valuing Life: Humanizing the Regulatory State |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-226-78017-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/valuinglifehuman0000suns }} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |last2=Hastie |first2=Reid |title=Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter |publisher=Harvard Business Review Press |location=Harvard |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4221-2299-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Why Nudge?: The Politics of Libertarian Paternalism (The Storrs Lectures Series) |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-300-19786-0}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=The World According to Star Wars |publisher=Dey Street Books |location=New York |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-06-248422-2}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=The Ethics of Influence: Government in the Age of Behavioral Science |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |year=2016 |isbn= 978-1-10-714070-7}} * {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/republi_sun_2017_00_0042|title=#Republic : divided democracy in the age of social media|last=Sunstein|first=Cass R.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0-691-17551-5|oclc=958799819|url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book|title=Human Agency and Behavioral Economics: Nudging Fast and Slow|last=Sunstein|first=Cass R.|publisher=Palgrave Advances in Behavioral Economics|year=2017|isbn=978-3-319-55806-6|oclc=1049592088}} * {{Cite book|title=Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide|last=Sunstein|first=Cass R.|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0-674-98379-3}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z30mDwAAQBAJ|title=Can It Happen Here?: Authoritarianism in America|last=Sunstein|first=Cass R.|year=2018 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-269621-2|language=en}} * {{Cite book |last= Sunstein |first= Cass R. |year= 2018 |title= The Cost-Benefit Revolution |publisher= MIT Press |isbn= 978-0-262-03814-0 }} * {{Cite book |title=On Freedom|last=Sunstein|first=Cass R.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0-691-19115-7}} * {{Cite book |last= Sunstein |first= Cass R. |year=2019 |title=How Change Happens |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-03957-4}} * {{Cite book |last= Sunstein |first= Cass R. |year=2019 |title=Conformity: The Power of Social Influences |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-1-4798-6783-7}} * {{Cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R. |title=Law and Leviathan: Redeeming the Administrative State |last2=Vermeule |first2=Adrian |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2020 |location=Cambridge, MA |language=en}} '''2020 onwards''' * {{Cite book |last1= Kahneman |first1= Daniel |last2= Sibony |first2= Olivier |last3= Sunstein |first3= Cass R. |year=2021 |title=Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment |publisher=William Collins |isbn=978-0-00-830899-5}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It |publisher=The MIT Press |year=2021 |location=Cambridge, MA |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |year=2021 |title=This Is Not Normal: The Politics of Everyday Expectations |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-25350-4}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |year=2021 |title=Liars: Falsehoods and Free Speech in an Age of Deception |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-754511-9}} * {{cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R.|last2=Dhami|first2=Sanjit |title=Bounded Rationality: Heuristics, Judgment, and Public Policy |publisher=MIT Press|year=2022|isbn=978-0-26-254370-5}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=How to Interpret the Constitution |date=2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-25204-9}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=Decisions about Decisions: Practical Reason in Ordinary Life |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2023 |location=Cambridge |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be |publisher=Harvard Business Review Press |year=2024 |location=Cambridge, MA |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Sharot |first1=Tali |last2=Sunstein |first2=Cass R. |title=Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There |publisher=Atria/One Signal |date=2024 |isbn=978-1-6680-0820-1}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=Campus Free Speech: A Pocket Guide |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2024 |location=Cambridge, MA |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World–And the Future |publisher=MIT Press |year=2024 |location=Cambridge, MA |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R.|last2=Bar-Gill|first2=Oren |author2-link=Oren Bar-Gill |title=Algorithmic Harm: Protecting People in the Age of Artificial Intelligence |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2025 |language=en|isbn=978-0-19-777820-3}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=Manipulation: What It Is, Why It's Bad, What to Do About It |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2025|location=Cambridge |language=en|isbn=978-1-00-962021-5}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=Separation of Powers: How to Preserve Liberty in Troubled Times |publisher=MIT Press |year=2026|location=Cambridge, MA |language=en|isbn=978-0-262-05177-4}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom |year=2026}} * {{Cite book |last1=Sunstein |first1=Cass R.|last2=Ollman-Margalit |first2=Edna |title=Decisions and Social Norms|year=2026}} * {{Cite book |last=Sunstein |first=Cass R. |title=Animals Matter: The Case for a Kinder World | year=2027}}

=== Selected articles === * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | title = Naked Preferences and the Constitution | journal = Columbia Law Review | volume = 84 | issue = 7 | pages = 1689–1732 | date = 1984 | jstor = 1122446 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/8468/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Interest Groups in American Public Law | journal = Stanford Law Review | volume = 38 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–88 | date = 1985 | jstor = 1228602 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/8416/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = ''Lochner'''s Legacy | journal = Columbia Law Review | volume = 87 | issue = 5 | pages = 873–919 | date = 1987 | jstor = 1122721 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/8453/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Constitutionalism After the New Deal | journal = Harvard Law Review | volume = 101 | issue = 2 | pages = 421–510 | date = 1987 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/8335/ | jstor = 1341264 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Beyond the Republican Revival | journal = Yale Law Journal | volume = 97 | issue = 8 | pages = 1539–90 | date = 1988 | jstor = 796540 | url = https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylj/vol97/iss8/2 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Interpreting Statutes in the Regulatory State | journal = Harvard Law Review | volume = 103 | issue = 2 | pages = 405–508 | date = 1989 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/8419/ | jstor = 1341272 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Law and Administration After ''Chevron'' | journal = Columbia Law Review | volume = 90 | issue = 8 | pages = 2071–2120 | date = 1990 | jstor = 1122889 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = What's Standing After ''Lujan''—Of Citizen Suits, Injuries, and Article III | journal = Michigan Law Review | volume = 91 | issue = 2 | pages = 163–236 | date = 1992 | jstor = 1289685 | url = https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol91/iss2/2/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | last2 = Lessig | first2 = Lawrence | authorlink2 = Lawrence Lessig | title = The President and the Administration | journal = Columbia Law Review | volume = 94 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–123 | date = 1994 | jstor = 1123119 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/7779/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Problems with Rules | journal = California Law Review | volume = 83 | issue = 4 | pages = 953–1026 | date = 1995 | jstor = 3480896 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/8522/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = The Supreme Court, 1995 Term — Foreword: Leaving Things Undecided | journal = Harvard Law Review | volume = 110 | issue = 1 | pages = 4–101 | date = 1996 | jstor = 1342006 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = On the Expressive Function of Law | journal = University of Pennsylvania Law Review | volume = 144 | issue = 5 | pages = 2021–54 | date = 1996 | jstor = 3312647 | url = https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3526&context=penn_law_review }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Social Norms and Social Roles | journal = Columbia Law Review | volume = 96 | issue = 4 | pages = 903–68 | date = 1996 | jstor = 1123430 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/8555/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | last2 = Jolls | first2 = Christine | authorlink2 = Christine M. Jolls | last3 = Thaler | first3 = Richard | authorlink3 = Richard Thaler | title = A Behavioral Approach to Law and Economics | journal = Stanford Law Review | volume = 50 | issue = 5 | pages = 1471–1550 | date = 1998 | jstor = 2381432 | url = https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2797&context=fss_papers }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = Nondelegation Canons | journal = University of Chicago Law Review | volume = 67 | issue = 2 | pages = 315–44 | date = 2000 | jstor = 1600490 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclrev/vol67/iss2/1/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | last2 = Thaler | first2 = Richard | title = Libertarian Paternalism Is Not an Oxymoron | journal = University of Chicago Law Review | volume = 70 | issue = 4 | pages = 1159–1202 | date = 2003 | jstor = 1600573 | url = https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclrev/vol70/iss4/1/ }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = ''Chevron'' Step Zero | journal = Virginia Law Review | volume = 92 | issue = 2 | pages = 187–250 | doi = | date = 2006 | jstor = 4144979 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | title = The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Myths and Realities | journal = Harvard Law Review | volume = 126 | issue = 7 | pages = 1838–79 | doi = | date = 2013 | jstor = 23415059 | url = https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-126/the-office-of-information-and-regulatory-affairs-myths-and-realities/}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Sunstein | first1 = Cass R. | author-mask = 1 | last2 = Vermeule | first2 = Adrian | authorlink2 = Adrian Vermeule | title = The Morality of Administrative Law | journal = Harvard Law Review | volume = 131 | issue = 7 | pages = 1924–78 | date = 2018 | jstor = 44865917 | url = https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-131/the-morality-of-administrative-law/ }}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Its-All-Cass-Sunsteins-Default?gko=ab34c It's All Cass Sunstein's Default] a 2017 ''strategy+business'' magazine "creative mind" profile. *{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/inforeg_administrator |work=Office of Management and Budget |title=White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs biography |via=National Archives |access-date=April 3, 2010 }} * [https://home.uchicago.edu/~csunstei/ Sunstein's Faculty Page] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090125102733/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/animallaw/faculty_research.shtml CPAT Articles] * {{C-SPAN|2691}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150907001905/http://www.newrepublic.com/authors/cass-r-sunstein-0 Sunstein's articles for ''The New Republic''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060927162642/http://www.cceia.org//resources/transcripts/1030.html Cass Sunstein discusses ''Why Societies Need Dissent,''] at the Carnegie Council * [https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/sunstein-wikipedia Sunstein on Wikipedia] * [https://balkin.blogspot.com/2004/06/iraq-and-fdr.html Sunstein blogging at Balkinization] * [https://blog.oup.com/2006/08/deliberation_an/ Sunstein blogging at Oxford University Press] * {{cite web|last=Roberts|first=Russ|title=Cass Sunstein Podcasts|url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/cass_sunstein|work=EconTalk|publisher=Library of Economics and Liberty|author-link=Russ Roberts|access-date=July 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531011200/http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/cass_sunstein/|archive-date=May 31, 2013|url-status=dead}} * [https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/1615 Video Interview/Discussion from June 2008] with Eugene Volokh on Bloggingheads.tv * [https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/1469 Video debate with Sunstein] and Henry Farrell on Bloggingheads.tv * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101113032650/http://www.hlrecord.org/2.4464/catching-up-with-cass-1.577637 "Catching up with Cass"] interview in the ''Harvard Law Record'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110717135702/http://www.hlrecord.org/2.4463/sunstein-explains-the-inner-workings-of-the-rumor-mill-1.577398 Report on Sunstein's Harvard Law chair lecture] reported in the ''Harvard Law Record'' * [http://www.grist.org/article/2009-green-nudges-an-interview-with-obama-re/ Green nudges: An interview with Obama regulatory czar Cass Sunstein] interview on Grist.org * [https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/cass-r-sunstein/ Sunstein author page and article archive] from ''The New York Review of Books'' * Podcast of lecture, 2007 [https://www.fljs.org/if-public-would-be-outraged-their-rulings-should-judges-care "If the Public Would Be Outraged by Their Rulings, Should Judges Care?" lecture]

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Kevin Neyland Acting}} {{s-ttl|title=Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs|years=2009–2012}} {{s-aft|after=Boris Bershteyn Acting}} {{s-end}} {{Animal rights|advocates}} {{Authority control}} {{bots|deny=OAbot}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunstein, Cass}} Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American male writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers Category:American political writers Category:American legal writers Category:American scholars of constitutional law Category:Jewish legal scholars Category:Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Category:American animal rights scholars Category:Intellectual property law scholars Category:Harvard Law School faculty Category:University of Chicago faculty Category:Jewish American academics Category:American male bloggers Category:American bloggers Category:Administrators of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Category:Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Category:Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Category:Critics of conspiracy theories Category:Jewish bloggers Category:Harvard College alumni Category:The Harvard Lampoon alumni Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Holberg Prize laureates Category:Honorary Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Category:Middlesex School alumni Category:Nudge theory Category:Harvard Crimson men's squash players Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:People from Concord, Massachusetts Category:21st-century American Jews Category:1954 births Category:Living people

Cass Sunstein

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