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FAMILY ORIGINS Philip Bobbitt is the only child of Oscar Price ("O.P.") Bobbitt (died 1995) and Rebekah Luruth Johnson Bobbitt (1910-1978). Though he rarely identifies himself as such, Bobbitt is a nephew of Lyndon Baines Johnson , president of the United States from 1963 to 1969; Rebekah Bobbitt was the eldest sister of the 36th president. SCHOLAR OF LAW AND HISTORY Bobbitt graduated with an A.B. from Princeton University in 1971 . In 1975 he received his J.D. from Yale Law School , where he was marked by the teaching of Charles L. Black (1915-2001); Black became a mentor to Bobbitt. After graduation, Philip Bobbitt clerked for Judge Henry Jacob Friendly (1903-1986) of the United States Court Of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was recruited to teach at the University Of Texas At Austin , where he began to teach in 1976 , and where he now holds the A.W. Walker Centennial Chair and teaches Constitutional Law . Bobbitt has also taught at Nuffield College, Oxford , where he was Anderson Senior Research Fellow and a member of the Modern History faculty in 1981 ; later he taught at King's College London as Marsh Christian Fellow in War Studies. From 1981 to 1982 he was visiting research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He received a Ph.D. from Oxford in 1983. Most recently, he was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. VIEWS ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW Professor Bobbitt has three sentences that he wants his students to take from his constitutional law class, and one in particular frames his class: "Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional", from McCulloch V. Maryland (1819). Therefore, he expects the analysis of the constitutionality of a federal issue to test first scope, then means, and then prohibitions. He also emphasises recognizing the modalities of constitutional arguments (i.e. structural, historical, prudential). He has argued in his books for the recognition of the ethical modality, which has to do with the vision we have of the nation and the role government ought to play. Bobbitt also teaches a constitutional law class around the Federalist Papers, discussing in detail the concerns of the late XVIIIth century as a means of framing contemporary legal and social issues. GOVERNMENT SERVICE Bobbitt has also served extensively in government, for both Democratic and Republican administrations. In the 1970s, he worked with Lloyd Cutler on the charter of the Central Intelligence Agency (''Austin Chronicle'', June 21, 2002). He has worked in the White House as associate counsel to the president, the Senate , the State Departement , and the National Security Council . ''THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES'' In '', an ambitious 900-page work that is both a theory, even philosophy, of historical change in the modern era, and a history of the development of modern Constitutional Law . Bobbitt traces interacting patterns in the (mainly modern Europe an) History of strategic Innovation s, major War s, peace conferences, International Diplomacy and Constitution al standards for State s. Bobbitt also suggests possible future scenarios and policies appropriate to them, especially from an Americocentric angle. Arguing that " Law and Strategy are not merely made in History . . . they are made of history" (p. 5), Bobbitt presents a dynamic view of historical change that has a dark, Tragic dimension, for he holds that the painful and, indeed, Atrocious process of resolving issues that create conflict and War tends to cause changes that render obsolete the solution to that conflict (generally a new form of the State possessing a new principle of Legitimacy ), even as it is established. This tragic dimension is evoked in the title of Bobbitt's book, inspired by the extraordinary last lines of Book 18 of Homer 's '' Iliad '', describing a shield fabricated for Achilles by the Hephaestus , across the "vast expanse" of which "with all his craft and cunning/the god creates a world of gorgeous immortal work" (trans. Robert Fagles ). PERSONAL Philip Bobbitt lives in Austin, Texas , Washington, D.C. , and London . His house in Austin is a registered landmark. He is soft spoken and loves cigars. He may step out of class to get a can of soda or a coffee. WRITINGS Books
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