N.Y. Times Features Academic Work of Professor Vikram Amar and his brother, Yale Law Professor Akhil Amar, Regarding State-Law Remedies for Federal Constitutional Violations

The New York Times interviewed and quoted Professor Vikram Amar for a story on Feb. 2, 2026 about the work he and his brother, Akhil Amar, have done concerning state-law remedies for federal constitutional violations. The article linked to Vikram Amar's views and analysis of the Illinois Bivens Act, which was tailored to address the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. 

Amar had critiqued the Illinois Bivens Act as “important and innovative” but imperfect in a November 2025 Justia's Verdict article written with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Law Professor Jason Mazzone.  The Verdict piece in turn cites and links to academic scholarship Vikram Amar had done 20 years ago. The Times’ Adam Liptak interviewed both Amars about the new Illinois law, and its relationship to the 1987 Yale Law Journal article “Of Sovereignty and Federalism,” which was written by Akhil Amar (a Yale Law School professor and Professor Vikram Amar’s brother and frequent co-author) and which first proposed the idea of state "converse-1983" laws.  Both Akhil and Vikram continue to work with state lawmakers concerning the enactment of state laws to hold accountable federal officials who violate the U.S. Constitution. 

Vikram Amar, one of the nation's most eminent and frequently cited authorities in constitutional law, federal courts, and civil procedure,  holds the Daniel J. Dykstra Endowed Chair at UC Davis School of Law. He returned to UC Davis as a distinguished professor of law in 2023 after serving for eight years as dean and Iwan Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Law.