I just saw the news that Richard Posner has died. He was a giant among legal scholars--indeed, one of the most heavily cited legal scholars of all time. Speaking from my own perspective, I would estimate that the vast majority of the books and articles on IP and antitrust that I've published over the years contain at least one Posner cite, and more likely several if we include both his scholarship and his judicial opinions; and his work on legal pragmatism in the 1990s has long influenced the way I approach legal and policy issues. One of the things I most appreciated about him was how his thought evolved over time: from Brennan clerk in the early 1960s, to Chicago School classical liberal to, later in his career, something of a centrist, perhaps even a liberal of sorts in the contemporary sense of the term. He was intellectually honest, and so he went in whatever direction he thought the evidence pointed. And whether one agreed with him on certain issues or not, I think most everyone who is familiar with his work would agree that he was a person of immense intellectual curiosity and tremendous breadth--and a memorable writer to boot.
About ten years ago, Professor Colleen Chien and I had plans to write a book with him on patent law. Although ultimately it never came to be, it was enjoyable getting to know him a bit towards the end of his career. As I recall, we even talked about cats at one point. He loved cats.
Rest in peace, Judge Posner. You were a true original, the likes of which we may never see again.
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