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Harvard Law School professor and internationally renowned constitutional law scholar Richard H. Fallon Jr. died on Sunday. He was 73.
HLS Dean John C.P. Goldberg announced his death in an email to the school’s affiliates on Monday. Goldberg wrote that Fallon was diagnosed with “an aggressive cancer” earlier this summer.
A leading scholar in constitutional law, Fallon was widely regarded for his insightful, prolific academic output and his commitment to thoughtful debate.
He has written extensively about the Supreme Court and constitutional interpretation, tackling how the more than 200-year-old document applies to the country today. In 2021, he was nominated to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, a committee established by then-President Joe Biden to investigate legal questions and possible reforms to the Supreme Court.
“HLS can be grateful for the more than forty years in which Professor Fallon wrote, taught, mentored, counseled, and led with extraordinary distinction,” Goldberg wrote in the Monday announcement of Fallon’s death. “His passing leaves a hole in our community that cannot be filled.”
Fallon was also remembered by former students and colleagues for his humor and his down-to-earth nature — qualities many said could be uncommon in the rarefied halls of Harvard Law School.
Cass R. Sunstein, a professor at HLS, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that Fallon combined his intellectual “brilliance” with “humility in a way I have never seen in all my years.”
Many mentioned Fallon’s dedication to teaching and said he took a genuine interest in his students.
“He never, never made anyone in his class feel stupid or or ignorant in any way,” said Lulu Chua-Rubenfeld ’18, a former student of Fallon’s who later served as a teaching fellow for one of his classes. “All he wanted was to nurture our interests.”
Though he taught classes with dozens of students, several described how Fallon invited each student to his office in Areeda Hall, and offered wisdom from his years of studying law.
Fallon was the two-time recipient of the Law School’s Sacks-Freund Award — honoring excellence in teaching.
In addition to his Law School coursework, Fallon also taught a popular undergraduate course, Government 1510: “American Constitutional Law.” The class was set to run again in fall 2025 but was canceled earlier this summer.
Fallon received his bachelor’s degree in 1974 in history at Yale University, where he served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News. He graduated as a Rhodes Scholar, and at Oxford University, he earned a second bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He then returned to Yale Law School, from which he earned a J.D. in 1980.
Before joining Harvard’s faculty, Fallon clerked for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. of the Supreme Court.
He went on to spend his entire teaching career at HLS, first joining as an assistant professor in 1982. Five years later, he was appointed to a full professorship.
Corrction: July 15, 2025
A previous version of this story’s headline incorrectly stated that Richard H. Fallon Jr. died at age 83. In fact, he was 73.
—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.
—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.
