# David Post

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American legal scholar (born 1951)

David Post David G. Post speaking at Cato Institute Born (1951-09-26) September 26, 1951 (age 74) Alma mater Yale University (BA, PhD) Georgetown University (JD) Occupation Legal scholar

**David G. Post** (born 1951) is an American legal scholar. Post is an expert in [intellectual property](/source/Intellectual_property) law and [cyberspace](/source/Cyberspace) law. Until his retirement in 2014, Post served as Professor of Law at [Beasley School of Law](/source/Temple_University_Beasley_School_of_Law) of [Temple University](/source/Temple_University) in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia).[1]

## Education

Post received his B.A. *cum laude* from [Yale College](/source/Yale_College) in 1972, his Ph.D. in [anthropology](/source/Anthropology) from [Yale University](/source/Yale_University) in 1978, and his [J.D.](/source/Juris_Doctor) *summa cum laude* from [Georgetown University Law Center](/source/Georgetown_University_Law_Center) in 1986.[2]

## Career

Post was the director of programs for the [American Anthropological Association](/source/American_Anthropological_Association) from 1976 to 1981 and an assistant professor of anthropology at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) from 1981 to 1983.[2]

Post served as [law clerk](/source/Law_clerk) to [Ruth Bader Ginsburg](/source/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg) twice, once from 1986 to 1987, when Ginsburg was a judge of the [U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit](/source/U.S._Court_of_Appeals_for_the_District_of_Columbia_Circuit), and a second time from 1993 to 1994, after Ginsburg had been elevated to the [Supreme Court of the United States](/source/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States).[2][3] In between, from 1987 to 1993, Post practiced law in Washington, D.C. as an associate at the [law firm](/source/Law_firm) of [Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering](/source/Wilmer%2C_Cutler_%26_Pickering).[2][3]

From 1994 to 1997, Post was an associate professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. In 1997, he joined the [Beasley School of Law](/source/Temple_University_Beasley_School_of_Law) of [Temple University](/source/Temple_University) in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia) as a professor of law, remaining there until his retirement as the I. Herman Stern Professor of Law in fall 2014.[2][3]

Post is a fellow of the [Center for Democracy and Technology](/source/Center_for_Democracy_and_Technology) and the [New York Law School](/source/New_York_Law_School)'s Institute for Information Law and Policy, an adjunct scholar at the [Cato Institute](/source/Cato_Institute), and a contributor to the [Volokh Conspiracy](/source/Volokh_Conspiracy) blog at *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*.[1][2] Post was formerly a senior fellow at the [Open Technology Institute](/source/Open_Technology_Institute) of the [New America Foundation](/source/New_America_Foundation).[3]

## Works and views

Post's main area of scholarly interest is [intellectual property](/source/Intellectual_property) law and the relationship of [complexity theory](/source/Complexity_theory_and_organizations) to the law.[1]

Post wrote *In Search of Jefferson's Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace* ([Oxford](/source/Oxford_University_Press), 2009).[4] In the book, Post draws a parallel "between the Internet and the natural and intellectual landscape that [Thomas Jefferson](/source/Thomas_Jefferson) explored, documented, and shaped."[5] The book earned positive reviews from legal scholars, including [Lawrence Lessig](/source/Lawrence_Lessig),[6] [Jonathan Zittrain](/source/Jonathan_Zittrain), and [Sean Wilentz](/source/Sean_Wilentz).[3] Post also coauthored, with [Paul Schiff Berman](/source/Paul_Schiff_Berman) and Patricia Bellia, another book, *Cyberlaw: Problems of Policy and Jurisprudence in the Information Age* ([West](/source/West_Publishing_Co.), 2007),[3][4] currently in its fourth (2011) edition.[2]

Post had authored a number of [amicus briefs](/source/Amicus_brief) to the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts.[2]

Post was a signatory to an [open letter](/source/Open_letter) from law professors in 2014 that expressed support for the legal recognition of [same-sex marriages](/source/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States) but also expressed concern that events (such as the resignation of [Mozilla](/source/Mozilla) CEO [Brendan Eich](/source/Brendan_Eich) after an outcry over a contribution that Eich had made to an anti-same-sex-marriage effort) "signal an eagerness by some supporters of same-sex marriage to punish rather than to criticize or to persuade those who disagree."[7]

## See also

- [List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 6)](/source/List_of_law_clerks_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States_(Seat_6))

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Bio_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Bio_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Bio_1-2) [David G. Post: Research & Writing](http://www.temple.edu/lawschool/dpost/writings.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190307074259/http://www.temple.edu/lawschool/dpost/writings.html) 2019-03-07 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (updated September 2014).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-PostCV_2-7) [David G. Post CV](http://www.temple.edu/lawschool/dpost/Resume.PDF) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171116151236/http://www.temple.edu/lawschool/dpost/Resume.PDF) 2017-11-16 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), Temple University Beasley School of Law (accessed July 3, 2016).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-OTInstitute_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-OTInstitute_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-OTInstitute_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-OTInstitute_3-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-OTInstitute_3-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-OTInstitute_3-5) [David Post: Senior Fellow, Open Technology Institute](https://www.newamerica.org/our-people/david-post/), [Open Technology Institute](/source/Open_Technology_Institute) (accessed June 3, 2016).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Cato_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Cato_4-1) [David G. Post](http://www.cato.org/people/david-post), Cato Institute (accessed June 3, 2016).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Book Forum: In Search of Jefferson's Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace](http://www.cato.org/events/search-jeffersons-moose-notes-state-cyberspace) (February 4, 2009).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Lawrence Lessig (March 11, 2009). ["REMIX: buy the remix"](http://www.lessig.org/2009/03/remix-buy-the-remix/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Freedom to Marry, Freedom to Dissent: Why We Must Have Both](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/04/22/freedom_to_marry_freedom_to_dissent_why_we_must_have_both_122376.html), [RealClearPolitics.com](/source/RealClearPolitics.com) (April 22, 2014)

## External links

- [Appearances](https://www.c-span.org/person/?41280) on [C-SPAN](/source/C-SPAN)

- [Blog postings](https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/david-post) by Post at the [Volokh Conspiracy](/source/Volokh_Conspiracy) on *The Washington Post*

- [David Post](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=93pYFEgAAAAJ) publications indexed by [Google Scholar](/source/Google_Scholar)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [David Post](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Post) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Post?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.