Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers—is pleased to announce that Akhil Reed Amar has received the 2026 Scribes Book Award for Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920 (Basic Books/ Hachette, 2025). Judith Resnik and Richard Primus were selected as runners-up for Impermissible Punishments: How Prison Became a Problem for Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2025) and The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power (Harvard University Press, 2025), respectively. The three honorees were selected from dozens of books submitted for consideration.
Learn more about this year’s winners in the full press release here.
Annual Awards Ceremony and 2027 CLE
Scribes will honor Amir, Resnik, and Primus at its Annual Awards Ceremony, which will be held virtually on Zoom on Friday, December 4, 2026 at 11:30 a.m. E.T. / 10:30 a.m. C.T. / 8:30 a.m. P.T. Click here to register for this exciting and complimentary event. Scribes also plans to present a separate one-hour CLE webinar with Amar in Spring 2027. The program will feature discussion of Born Equal and an opportunity for questions and conversation with a member of the Scribes Book Award Committee. The date and registration information will be announced on the Scribes website.
Scribes also plans to present a separate one-hour CLE webinar with Amar in Spring 2027. The program will feature discussion of Born Equal and an opportunity for questions and conversation with a member of the Scribes Book Award Committee. The date and registration information will be announced on the Scribes website.
About the Scribes Book Award
Since 1961, Scribes has presented its annual Book Award to recognize the best work of legal scholarship published during the preceding calendar year. The Book Award Committee gives primary consideration to the quality of the writing and also considers the depth of the research.
You can see past winners at www.scribes.org/awards/book-award/.