Richard A. Posner died on November 10, 2026, at age 87. He was a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School and a former judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, serving from 1981 to 2017 and as chief judge from 1993 to 2000. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Posner authored the seminal casebook Economic Analysis of Law (1973), wrote thousands of judicial opinions, hundreds of academic articles, and dozens of books. He is widely regarded as the most-cited legal scholar of the 20th century and one of the most influential lower-court judges in U.S. history.
Posner was a pioneer of law and economics, a field that applies economic reasoning to legal rules and institutions. His work reshaped American legal scholarship and judicial decision-making. He was known for writing his own opinions, for his pragmatic approach, and for his extraordinary productivity. In later years, he publicly criticized parts of his own earlier rulings, including a 2008 voter-ID decision, and distanced himself from the Republican Party on some issues.
Richard A. Posner, former U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit judge and University of Chicago law professor, died on November 10, 2026, at age 87. He was widely considered the most-cited legal scholar of the 20th century. N/A
BRichard Posner has died at 87. It's just been reported.
BThe most-cited legal scholar of the twentieth century. That's not a small title.
BIt's not. He served on the Seventh Circuit for decades and was appointed by Reagan.
BAnd he wrote a landmark book that changed how judges think. Economic Analysis of Law. He basically said: apply economic reasoning to legal rules.
BWhich sounds dry until you realize it reshaped everything from antitrust to contracts to how courts handle accidents.
BHe was also just... prolific. Thousands of opinions, hundreds of articles, dozens of books. The man never stopped writing.
BAnd he wrote his own opinions. No law clerk ghostwriting. You read a Posner opinion, you knew it was him.
BHere's what I respect: he later publicly criticized one of his own voter-ID rulings. Said he got it wrong. How many judges do that?
BAlmost none. And he distanced himself from the Republican Party on some issues. He was not a team player.
BWhich is exactly why both sides claimed him and both sides were annoyed by him. That's a real thinker.
BThe University of Chicago Law School dean called him a giant. Ilya Somin at Reason said he was probably the most influential lower-court federal judge of the last several decades.
BAnd his death is already renewing the debate about law and economics, about empirical evidence in judging, about voter-ID rules. He's still stirring arguments from the grave.
BThat's the mark of someone who mattered. Richard Posner, dead at 87.
BDifferent world entirely: there's a post going around claiming security alerts across multiple Middle East diplomatic missions.
BAnd I can't confirm that. No official word yet. The account says it's tied to Iranian plots and renewed Houthi attacks.
BBut we do know the Houthis have been active, and the region is tense.
BRight. The tension is real. But this specific claim about the embassies? That's unconfirmed until the State Department says it.
BAnd meanwhile, a Bluesky post from a Ukraine account quotes Zelenskyy saying missiles are going to the Middle East while Ukraine has empty Patriot systems.
BThat one's also unverified. But it's a sharp complaint if true: air defense being pulled toward the Middle East while Ukraine faces Russian ballistic missiles.
BIt's the same tension we've seen for two years. The U.S. has finite Patriots. Every battery sent to the Gulf is one not over Kyiv.
BAnd Zelenskyy's been making this point since the first Houthi attacks. He's not wrong that the math is brutal.
BBut here's the counter: the U.S. can't let Iranian proxies shut down Red Sea shipping. That's a global economic artery.
BSo it's a genuine strategic dilemma, not just a talking point. And the post captures the frustration on the Ukrainian side.
BSpeaking of frustration, there's a fight on X about whether America is only in the Middle East because of Israel.
BOh, this one's been simmering. One account called Insurrection Barbie says that argument is historically illiterate.
BAnd she's right. America's strategic interest in the Middle East predates Israel. FDR met with Saudi Arabia in 1945. Oil was the reason.
BThe reply thread is a mess, though. Someone's citing the Tripoli ambassador from 1786, someone else is yelling about the Crusades.
BThat's X for you. But the core point stands: the U.S. was in the Middle East for oil and Cold War positioning long before 1948.
BAnd that doesn't mean Israel isn't a factor now. It is. But pretending it's the only factor is just bad history.
BExactly. You can criticize U.S. policy without rewriting the timeline. The two things aren't the same.
BAnd that's the argument worth having. Not the name-calling in the replies.
BOne more from Bluesky, and it's a palate cleanser. Someone posted about Tolkien and the Blue Wizards.
BThe guy who invented Middle-earth said he didn't know what happened in the East. Not his circus, not his monkeys.
BI love that. The creator of the entire world just shrugs and says, I only know about the Northwest.
BIt's actually a great reminder that even the most detailed fictional worlds have gaps. And the author is allowed to not care.
BMeanwhile, fans have written entire wikis about the Blue Wizards. Tolkien's over there like, I don't know, they went east.
BThat's the difference between a creator and a fandom. One builds, the other fills in every crack.
BAnd honestly, that's why we're still talking about Middle-earth decades later. The gaps are where the imagination lives.
BAlright, that's a good place to land. Richard Posner, a real giant, and a reminder that even giants leave questions unanswered.