Adam Winkler

His writing on the right to bear arms, which is notable for its middle-of-the-road position—recognizing both the individual right to possess firearms and the legitimacy of effective gun control—has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous lower courts. His book Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America details the importance of the right to bear arms throughout American history, while also showing how that right has been balanced with laws to enhance gun safety since the founding era. Leading gun-rights advocate Dave Kopel called Gunfight "one of the few genuinely moderate books ever written on" the right to bear arms.

He is also known for his empirical scholarship on constitutional law issues, including a much-cited quantitative study that disproved the well accepted legal maxim that strict scrutiny—a test courts apply to determine the constitutionality of burdens on fundamental rights—is "'strict' in theory, but fatal in fact." Examining 14 years of federal court decisions, Winkler found that laws survived strict scrutiny 30% of the time and that, in at least one area of law—religious freedom—constitutional law's most rigorous test resulted in the law being upheld in nearly 60% of cases. In other work, Winkler found that federalism was a hidden factor in free speech jurisprudence, with nearly 56% of federal laws burdening core speech rights upheld, compared to 23% of state laws and only 3% of local laws.

He has taught at UCLA School of Law since 2002, receiving tenure in 2007. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, he was the John M. Olin Fellow at the University of Southern California Law School from 2001-02.

Winkler holds a Bachelor in the Science of Foreign Service from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, and a Master's degree from UCLA in political science. He served as a law clerk to judge David Thompson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1995-96. As a young lawyer, Winkler practiced with prominent trial lawyer Howard Weitzman and represented Michael Jackson in his defense against charges of sexual assault.

Winkler, born and raised in Los Angeles, is the youngest son of Academy Award-winning film producer Irwin Winkler. As a child, he had small acting parts in movies, including appearing as the son of Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli in Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977).

Adam Winkler (born July 25, 1967) is a professor of constitutional law at the UCLA School of Law. He is the author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America, and a commentator about legal issues. Winkler's second book, We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights was published in February 2018 and is a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction.