Kermit Roosevelt, III – 1989 Scholar

It must have seemed like destiny when this great-great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt was named a Presidential Scholar from the District of Columbia. Kim Roosevelt’s academic star continued to rise through undergraduate studies at Harvard University, where he graduated summa cum laude, and Yale Law School, where he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. Upon graduation, he clerked for D.C. Circuit Judge Stephen F. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. After working at the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt, Roosevelt joined the University of Pennsylvania Law faculty in 2002. This legal scholar, professor and author is an expert on conflict of laws, constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, and law and technology, and has served since 1998 as a member of the Human Rights Advisory Board for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. His latest book, “The Myth of Judicial Activism: Making Sense of Supreme Court Decisions”, sets out standards by which citizens can determine whether the Supreme Court is abusing its authority. He is also the author of two novels, “In the Shadow of the Law” and “Allegiance”.