Edward A. Purcell, Jr., is Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor, New York Law School. He is author of many books and scholarly articles, including "Brandeis and the Progressive Constitution: Erie, the Judicial Power, and the Politics of Federal Courts in Twentieth-Century America" (2000), published by Yale University Press, for which he received the Coif Triennial Book Award and the Triennial Griswold Prize. He lives in New York City.