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Amy Wax (born January 19, 1953) is an American lawyer and academic. She is the Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her work addresses issues in social welfare law and policy as well as the relationship of the family, the workplace, and labor markets.

Early life and education

Wax was born in Troy, New York, on January 19, 1953 in a Jewish household. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with B.S. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University in 1975. She was then a Marshall Scholar in Somerville College, Oxford University. She then received M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1981 and J.D. from Columbia University Law School in 1987. In law school, she was an editor of Columbia Law Review. She then clerked for Judge Abner Mikva of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1987 to 1988, and was admitted to New York State Bar in 1988.

Professional achievements

Wax first worked in the Office of the Solicitor General, United States Department of Justice from 1988 to 1994. During her tenure, she argued 15 cases before the United States Supreme Court. She taught at University of Virginia Law School from 1994 to 2000, when she became Professor of Law at University of Pennsylvania. In 2015, she received a Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Controversies

Amy Wax has been called "notorious for making controversial comments that have attracted national attention". In a controversial piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer she wrote: "all cultures are not equal". She told the Daily Pennsylvanian that "everyone wants to go to countries ruled by white Europeans" because of their "superior" mores. In an interview with Glenn Loury, she also claimed that "a black student has never finished in the top quarter of a graduating class Penn Law". As a result of these controversies, Penn Law School stripped Wax of her duties teaching curriculum courses first-year students. A petition to fire Wax gathered about 4,000 signatures.

References

1. CV of Amy Wax
2. Nick Roll, Outrage Over Op-Ed, Inside Higher Education, August 25, 2017.
3. Amy Wax, Robert Mundheim Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School website.
4. Madeleine Ngo, Penn Law prof. Amy Wax on Brett Kavanaugh allegations, Daily Pennsylvanian, September 30, 2018.
5. Amy Wax and Larry Alexander, Paying the price for breakdown of the country's bourgeois culture,The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 2017.
6. Dan Spinelli, ‘Not all cultures are created equal’ says Penn Law professor in op-ed, Daily Pennsylvanian, August 10, 2017.
7. Joe Patrice, Professor Declares Black Students ‘Rarely’ Graduate In The Top Half Of Law School Class, Above The Law, Mar 8, 2018.
8. Penn professor removed from class for saying black students underperform, Associated Press, Mar 14, 2018.
9. Juliana Feliciano Reyes, The internet wants Penn Law prof Amy Wax fired (again) — this time for her comments on the Kavanaugh hearing, The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 2017.

External links

• Q&A with Amy Wax, C-Span, June 5, 2018.

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