Benjamin Eidelson is an Assistant Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Professor Eidelson’s writing focuses on the interplay of moral principles and legal rules. He works primarily in constitutional law, antidiscrimination law, administrative law, and legal theory.

Professor Eidelson’s current work-in-progress concerns numerical line-drawing problems in constitutional law. His most recent article, published in the Yale Law Journal, examines the idea of “treating people as individuals” in equal protection doctrine. His first book, Discrimination and Disrespect, based on his doctoral dissertation in philosophy, develops an account of wrongful discrimination rooted in the moral demands of respect for persons. His writing for broader audiences has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, and other publications.

Professor Eidelson has also litigated significant cases involving constitutional law, administrative law, and immigration. In 2019, he developed and advanced a legal theory that was adopted by the Supreme Court in its decision invalidating the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. During his time in private practice, he litigated cases at all levels of the federal judiciary, including arguing an appeal in the D.C. Circuit that reinstated a challenge to the State Department's implementation of President Trump’s “travel ban.” He has also served as co-counsel to plaintiffs challenging the ban on military service by transgender individuals. 

Professor Eidelson graduated summa cum laude from Yale College and received his D.Phil. and B.Phil. in Philosophy from Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar and was awarded the Gilbert Ryle Prize. He then earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal and as a Student Director of the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic. After law school, Professor Eidelson clerked for Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Elena Kagan of the U.S. Supreme Court.