{{Short description|American philosopher (born 1942)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox academic | name = Roger Pilon | image = Roger Pilon.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1942}} | birth_place = Vermont, United States | occupation = {{hlist|Philosopher|constitutional scholar}} | spouse = Juliana Geran Pilon | education = {{Plainlist| * Columbia University (BA) * University of Chicago (MA; PhD) * George Washington University School of Law (JD) }} | thesis_title = A Theory of Rights: Toward Limited Government | thesis_url = https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/a_theory_of_rights.pdf | thesis_year = 1979 | school_tradition = Classical liberalism | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = | discipline = | workplaces = Cato Institute }}
'''Roger Pilon''' (born 1942) is an American philosopher and constitutional scholar working in the classical liberal tradition. He is a senior fellow in the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies, which he founded in 1989 and directed until January 2019.
==Early life and education== Roger Pilon was born in Vermont in 1942, and grew up in rural upstate New York near the village of Galway.<ref name="interview">{{cite web |last=Pilon |first=Roger |interviewer-last=Meyer-Lindenberg |interviewer-first=David |date=22 February 2017 |title=Cross: Roger Pilon, Defending Liberty at Cato |url=https://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/cross-roger-pilon-defending-liberty-cato/16364 |website=Mimesis Law |access-date=28 March 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902193232/http:/mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/cross-roger-pilon-defending-liberty-cato/16364 |archive-date=2 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="bio">{{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |editor-last1=Cavallo |editor-first1=Jo Ann |editor-last2=Block |editor-first2=Walter E. |editor-link2=Walter Block |date=2023 |title=Libertarian Autobiographes: Moving Toward Freedom in Today's World |section=An Unconventional Odyssey |section-url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2023-09/roger-pilon-an-unconventional-oddessy.pdf |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-0312-9607-9 |access-date=24 March 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260324135448/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2023-09/roger-pilon-an-unconventional-oddessy.pdf |archive-date=24 March 2026}}</ref> After graduating from high school, Pilon started college at Syracuse University as an engineering major, but finished his first year as a music major before deciding to interrupt his formal education. He spent the next seven years engaged in what he called a "wonderful odyssey of discovery" before returning to college in 1968.<ref name="kelman">{{cite book |last=Kelman |first=Steven |date=1996 |title=American Democracy and the Public Good |section=Meet an Activist in Constitutional Law: Roger Pilon |section-url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/meet_an_activist_in_constitutional_law.pdf |location= |publisher=Harcourt Brace College Publishers |pages=84-97 |isbn=978-0-1550-3506-5 |access-date=24 March 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250617045154/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/meet_an_activist_in_constitutional_law.pdf |archive-date=17 June 2025}}</ref>
In 1971, Pilon graduated from Columbia University's School of General Studies with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. He then attended the University of Chicago, where he earned a Master of Arts and PhD in philosophy.<ref name="kelman"/> Pilon wrote his doctoral dissertation, ''A Theory of Rights: Toward Limited Government'', under the direction of Professors Alan Gewirth and Alan Donagan in the philosophy department, and Milton Friedman in the economics department. During this time he also studied with Richard A. Epstein in the law school.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Pilon |first=Roger |date=1979 |section=Foreword |title=A Theory of Rights: Toward Limited Government |section-url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/a_theory_of_rights.pdf |pages=2-5 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Chicago |oclc=28783345 |access-date=9 April 2026}}</ref>
While serving as a senior political appointee in the Reagan administration, Pilon earned a Juris Doctor from the George Washington University School of Law.<ref name="kelman"/> He is married to Juliana Geran Pilon, also a philosopher, whom he met at the University of Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |date=8 July 2020 |title=A Couple Who've Made Classical Liberal Ideas Matter: Drs. Roger and Juliana Pilon |url=https://www.theihs.org/blog/a-couple-whove-made-classical-liberal-ideas-matter-drs-roger-and-juliana-pilon/ |publisher=Institute for Humane Studies |access-date=29 March 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250712131656/https://www.theihs.org/blog/a-couple-whove-made-classical-liberal-ideas-matter-drs-roger-and-juliana-pilon/ |archive-date=12 July 2025}}</ref><ref name="bio"/>
==Career== After earning his doctorate at Chicago in 1979, Pilon taught philosophy briefly at California State University, Sonoma, and then philosophy of law at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta.<ref name="interview"/><ref name="kelman"/> While at Emory he was awarded a one-year National Fellowship by Stanford University's Hoover Institution, following which he was a senior fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, located then in Menlo Park, California.<ref name="interview"/> In April 1981, Pilon was invited to join the new Reagan administration as a senior political appointee, serving serially in the Office of Personnel Management, the State Department, and the Justice Department, which he left in October 1988 to join the Cato Institute.<ref name="interview"/>
Pilon is a senior fellow in the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies, which he established in 1989. He served as director of the center until January 2019, and as Cato's vice president for legal affairs from 1999 until 2019. He is publisher emeritus of the ''Cato Supreme Court Review'', which he founded in 2001.<ref name="cato">{{Cite web |title=Roger Pilon |url=https://www.cato.org/people/roger-pilon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251221120435/https://www.cato.org/people/roger-pilon |archive-date=21 December 2025 |access-date=24 March 2026 |publisher=Cato Institute |language=en-US |url-status=live}}</ref> He has taught at the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia; and, through The Fund for American Studies, he has been an adjunct professor in Georgetown University's Department of Government, teaching in that capacity in Washington and summers in Prague and Budapest.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roger Pilon |url=https://www.libertarianism.org/people/roger-pilon |website=Libertarianism.org |publisher=Cato Institute |access-date=24 March 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260324135552/https://www.libertarianism.org/people/roger-pilon |archive-date=24 March 2026}}</ref>
In January 1988, when Pilon was serving as the first director of the Justice Department's new Asylum Policy and Review Unit, the department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) informed him that he was under investigation on suspicion of disclosing classified information to a foreign government. He was placed on administrative leave while under investigation. Nine months later, following a ''de novo'' review of the case, Pilon was cleared and his security clearances were restored.<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=David |date=10 November 1989 |title=Ex-U.S. Worker Angry at Justice Dept. 'Misconduct' Report |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/10/us/ex-us-worker-angry-at-justice-dept-misconduct-report.html |access-date=24 March 2026 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2018-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115123136/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/10/us/ex-us-worker-angry-at-justice-dept-misconduct-report.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Matthews |first=Mark |date=17 July 1990 |title=Official apology given in security case |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-official-apology-given/194093300/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |issn=1930-8965 |access-date=24 March 2026 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> An erroneous account of the investigation later surfaced in OPR's annual report, falsely claiming that it had collected enough evidence against Pilon to justify dismissing him, and that he resigned before he could be removed.<ref name="privacy">{{cite news |date=15 July 1996 |title=Mr. Pilon's Privacy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1996/07/16/mr-pilons-privacy/68db6b6e-ffc5-4cd9-9ef6-675055293043/ |work=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |access-date=24 March 2026}}</ref> The department conducted two more ''de novo'' reviews, both clearing him, following which they issued an apology and an award of $25,000.<ref>{{Multiref2|{{cite news |last=Isikoff |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Isikoff |date=17 July 1990 |title=Former Justice Department Official Vindicated |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/07/17/former-justice-department-official-vindicated/e92d0494-c11c-4a96-bd24-503aa6c656cf/ |url-access=subscription |work=The Washington Post |page=A7 |issn=0190-8286 |access-date=13 April 2026}}|{{cite news |date=17 July 1990 |title=Settlement Reached in Justice Dept. Spying Inquiry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/17/us/settlement-reached-in-justice-dept-spying-inquiry.html |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=24 March 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525200248/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/17/us/settlement-reached-in-justice-dept-spying-inquiry.html |archive-date=25 May 2015}}|{{cite news |last=Crovitz |first=L. Gordon |author-link=L. Gordon Crovitz |date=15 August 1990 |title=Victims Wonder, Who Guards the Ethics Guardians? |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB83747635931730000 |url-access=subscription |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=1042-9840 |access-date=29 March 2026}}}}</ref> When subsequent leaks to the media insinuated otherwise, Pilon brought suit against the Justice Department, claiming a violation of the Privacy Act.<ref name="privacy"/> On January 16, 1996, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found for Pilon.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Pilon v. United States Department of Justice |vol=73 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=1111 |court=D.C. Cir. |date=1996 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11547400601259815446 }}</ref> After more than eight years, from start to finish, the case settled when the government awarded Pilon $250,000.<ref>{{cite news |date=15 July 1996 |title=Former Justice Department Official to Get $250,000 |work=The Washington Post |page=A6 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref name="privacy"/> Discovery over that time found that the illegal leaks had come from the Justice Department's own Office of Professional Responsibility.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rushford |first=Greg |date=5 February 1990 |title=Watching the Watchdog: Veteran Justice Department Ethics Officer Faces Questions About His Own Actions |journal=Legal Times |volume=XII |issue=35 |publisher=American Lawyer Media |page=1 |issn=0732-7536}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Myers |first=Matthew L. |date=29 July 1996 |title=Illegal Leak Victimized Roger Pilon |journal=Legal Times |publisher=American Lawyer Media |issn=0732-7536}}</ref>
==Recognition== {{external media | width = 180px | float = right | video1 =[https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-video/tribute-roger-pilon-31st-annual-benefactor-summit Tribute to Roger Pilon from the 31st Annual Benefactor Summit] – Cato Institute (23:05 min) }} In 1989, the National Press Foundation and the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution presented Pilon with its Benjamin Franklin Award for excellence in writing on the U.S. Constitution.<ref>{{cite journal |date=May 1989 |title=Pilon Essay Receives Award |url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/policy-report/1989/6/v11n3.pdf |journal=Cato Policy Report |volume=XI |issue=3 |publisher=Cato Institute |page=4 |access-date=24 March 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250710151944/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/policy-report/1989/6/v11n3.pdf |archive-date=10 July 2025}}</ref> In June 1997, he gave his high school's commencement address after he was inducted into the Galway Central School's Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite news |date=27 June 1997 |title=Pilon to join Galway High Hall of Fame |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jGBGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_-cMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3857%2C6360184 |work=Schenectady Gazette |issn=2996-1718 |access-date=24 March 2026 |via=Google News}}</ref> In 2001, Columbia University's School of General Studies awarded Pilon its Alumni Medal of Distinction; a year later, in June 2002, he gave the school's commencement address.<ref>{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Ben |date=22 May 2002 |title=CU Invites Prominent Speakers for Graduation |url=https://archive-publications.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs20020522-01.1.7 |journal=Columbia Spectator |volume=CXXVI |issue=65 |page=7 |access-date=24 March 2026}}</ref> In 2023, to mark the 75th anniversary of Columbia University's School of General Studies, the school included Pilon among "75 trailblazers who studied at GS and transformed the world".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Butterman |first=Eric |date=April 2023 |title=75 for 75: Meet 75 trailbrazers who studied at GS—and transformed the world |url=https://issuu.com/columbiags/docs/columbia-gs-owl-magazine-2022-2023 |magazine=Owl Magazine |publisher=Columbia University School of General Studies |access-date=13 April 2026 |via=Issuu}}</ref>
==Publications== ===Book chapters=== * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |editor-last1=Dorn |editor-first1=James A. |editor-last2=Manne |editor-first2=Henry G. |editor-link2=Henry Manne |date=1987 |section=Legislative Activism, Judicial Activism, and the Decline of Private Sovereignty |title=Economic Liberties and the Judiciary |url=https://archive.org/details/economiclibertie0000unse/ |url-access=registration |pages=183-203 |location=Fairfax, VA |publisher=George Mason University Press |isbn=978-0-9139-6917-5}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last1=Gwartney |editor-first1=James D. |editor-last2=Wagner |editor-first2=Richard E. |editor-link2=Richard E. Wagner |date=1988 |section=Property Rights, Takings, and a Free Society |title=Public Choice and Constitutional Economics |url=https://archive.org/details/publicchoicecons0000unse/ |url-access=registration |pages=151-179 |publisher=JAI Press |isbn=978-0-8923-2935-9}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last=Lynch |editor-first=Timothy |others=Foreword by Milton Friedman |date=2000 |section=The Illegitimate War on Drugs |title=After Prohibition: An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century |url=https://archive.org/details/afterprohibitiona00lync/ |url-access=registration |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |pages=23-40 |isbn=1-8825-7793-0}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last1=Swanson |editor-first1=James L. |editor-link=James L. Swanson |date=2002 |section=Restoring Constitutional Government |title=Cato Supreme Court Review, 2001-2002 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |isbn=978-1-9308-6535-8}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last=Samples |editor-first=John |editor-link=John Samples |date=2002 |section=Madison's Constitutional Vision: The Legacy of Enumerated Powers |title=James Madison and the Future of Limited Government |url=https://archive.org/details/jamesmadisonfutu0000unse |url-access=registration |pages=25-41 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |isbn=978-1-9308-6523-5}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last=Dorn |editor-first=James A. |date=2003 |section=A Constitution of Liberty for China |title=China in the New Millennium: Market Reforms and Social Development |url=https://archive.org/details/chinainnewmillen0000unse/ |url-access=registration |pages=333-353 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |isbn=978-1-8825-7761-3}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last1=Shapiro |editor-first1=Ilya |date=2016 |section=Justice Scalia's Originalism: Original or Post-New Deal? |title=Cato Supreme Court Review: 2015-2016 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |isbn=978-1-9444-2419-0}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |date=2022 |section=Congress, the Courts, and the Constitution |title=Cato Handbook for Policymakers |edition=9th |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |pages=141-171 |isbn=978-1-9522-2369-3}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last=Laitos |editor-first=Jan G. |date=2025 |section=Restoring the right to property as fundamental to a free society |title=Rethinking the Law of Private Property |location= |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |pages=3-67 |isbn=978-1-0353-1135-4}} * {{cite book |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |editor-last=Berry |editor-first=Thomas A. |date=2026 |section=The Purpose and Limits of Government |title=A History of Repeated Injuries: Threats to Liberty Since American Independence |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |pages=9-42 |isbn=978-1-9692-8406-9}}
===Books as editor=== * {{cite book |editor-last=Pilon |editor-first=Roger |date=1990 |title=Flag-Burning, Discrimination, and the Right to Do Wrong: Two Debates |url=https://archive.org/details/ruleoflawinwakeo00roge/ |url-access=registration |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |isbn=0-9327-9081-X}} * {{cite book |editor-last1=Crane |editor-first1=Edward H. |editor-last2=Pilon |editor-first2=Roger |editor-link1=Ed Crane (executive) |date=1993 |title=The Politics and Law of Term Limits |url=https://archive.org/details/politicslawofter0000unse |url-access=registration |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |isbn=1-8825-7712-4}} * {{cite book |editor-last=Pilon |editor-first=Roger |date=2000 |title=The Rule of Law in the Wake of Clinton |url=https://archive.org/details/ruleoflawinwakeo00roge/ |url-access=registration |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |isbn=1-9308-6503-1}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=O'Neill |first=James |date=2001 |title=Surviving the "Rocks of Error" |url= |journal=Texas Review of Law & Politics |volume=5 |issue=2 |publisher=University of Texas School of Law |page=515 |issn=1098-4577 |id={{EBSCOhost|5152452}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Osburn |first=Robert H. |date=2001 |title=Why Law Became Politics Under Clinton |journal=Human Events |volume=57 |issue=9 |page=16 |issn=0018-7194 |id={{EBSCOhost|4168235}}}}</ref>
===Forewords and prefaces=== * {{cite book |last=Hyde |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Hyde |date=1995 |title=Forfeiting Our Property Rights: Is Your Property Safe From Seizure? |url=https://archive.org/details/forfeitingourpro00hyde/ |url-access=registration |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |pages=vii-x |isbn=978-1-8825-7718-7}} * {{cite book |author=((Cato)) |author-mask=[Cato] |date=2002 |title=The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States |url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pocket-constitution.pdf |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Cato Institute |pages=1-7 |oclc=1295729687}}
===Selected articles=== * {{cite thesis |last=Pilon |first=Roger |date=1979 |title=A Theory of Rights: Toward Limited Government |url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/a_theory_of_rights.pdf |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Chicago, Department of Philosophy |oclc=28783345 |ref=none}} * {{Cite journal |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |year=1979 |title=Ordering Rights Consistently: Or What We Do and Do Not Have Rights To |journal=Georgia Law Review |volume=13 |pages=1171–1196 |issn=0016-8300}} * {{cite journal |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |date=2005 |title=The United States Constitution: From Limited Government to Leviathan |url=https://www.aier.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/CT05.pdf |journal=Economic Education Bulletin |volume=XLV |issue=12 |location=Great Barrington, MA |publisher=American Institute for Economic Research |issn=0424-2769 |isbn=0-9136-1041-0}} * {{cite journal |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |date=2008 |title=The Constitutional Protection of Property Rights: America and Europe |url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/pilon_031009.pdf |journal=Economic Education Bulletin |volume=XLVIII |issue=6 |location=Great Barrington, MA |publisher=American Institute for Economic Research |issn=0424-2769 |isbn=978-0-9136-1061-9}} * {{cite journal |last=Pilon |first=Roger |author-mask=1 |date=2013 |title=On the Origins of the Modern Libertarian Legal Movement |url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/chapman_lr_final.pdf |journal=Chapman Law Review |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=255-268 |issn=2381-3245}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.cato.org/people/pilon.html Roger Pilon] at Cato.org {{endash}} includes a full account of Pilon's writings, speeches, media appearances, congressional testimonies, and more. * {{C-SPAN|5798}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilon, Roger}} Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:American libertarians Category:Philosophers from Vermont Category:Cato Institute people Category:Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Category:George Washington University Law School alumni Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Emory University School of Law faculty Category:21st-century American philosophers