ATL World Exclusive: Paparazzi Photos of Cass Sunstein and Samantha Power!
The world is obsessed with celebrity professors Cass Sunstein and Samantha Power, who recently left the ivory tower to take high-ranking positions in the Obama Administration. He might someday sit on the Supreme Court; she's a winner of the Pulitzer Prize; and together, as we previously reported (see the update), they're creating the World's Smartest Baby.
How many HLS grads turned Harvard professors get named Fun Couple of the 21st Century by Esquire? The article begins:
If The Chronicle of Higher Education had paparazzi, a few of them would be camped outside this office right now.The office is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and inside are two Harvard professors. The first -- a tall woman in her thirties with long red hair -- is wrapped in a wool blanket.... The second -- a slightly older man who looks a bit like William Hurt -- wears a dark suit and is twirling a Wilson tennis racket, a favorite habit of his. They're talking about the usual -- Obama, the fight against extremism, the future of the Supreme Court. And also, who should order flowers for the priest who helped them out with wedding plans.
In a week, they're getting married in a small church in Ireland -- a fact that, if those paparazzi did exist, would send them into a Brad-and-Angelina tizzy.
Oh, but such paparazzi do exist. Harvard Law School student "Percy Thrillington" snapped a few photos of the happy couple, in an HLS parking lot -- the small parking lot just off Mass. Ave., next to the International Legal Studies library. They were unloading what said tipster described as "a rather dorky-looking red PT Cruiser."
(Hey, Percy, lay off the PT Cruiser. If it's good enough for Chief Justice John Roberts -- see photo at right -- then it's good enough for Cass and Sam.)
After a heated bidding war between top tabloid publications -- bids climbed well into the six figures, allowing Percy to pay for his law school education -- ATL emerged victorious. We now proudly present exclusive photographs of the world's leading legal-academic couple.
Check out paparazzi pics of the Power couple, after the jump.
How did Percy Thrillington come across these shots?
A few months ago, during the first week of school, I noticed Sunstein and Powers in the parking lot, taking some stuff out of their car (I think moving it into Sunstein's office). Having followed your blog's coverage of this ultimate legal power couple, and having a camera handy, I inconspicuously took a few snapshots.Maybe a little stalker-ish. But they were in public, and it's a free country, right?
Indeed. You don't need to be a Fourth Amendment expert to know that nobody has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a parking lot. Especially not legal celebrities like Cass 'n Sam.
To see the photos, spin through the slideshow below. As you'll see, there were no bodyguards in sight. The good professors were carrying their own things, unaided by an entourage -- or even a gaggle of research assistants.
Legal academic celebrities: they're just like us!
(64) Comments
Comments
my cass is killing me
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.
Is Percy related to Jen Everest?
Dammit Lat, focus on the LAYOFFS.
Must be her whip; when he was at Chicago he drove a red Toyota Matrix (equally dorky).
They are a fabulous couple. I adore them, just as I adore Brangelina.
(But I feel bad for Martha Nussbaum, just as I feel bad for Jennifer Aniston.)
who cares, MORE LAYOFFS
I think it is nice to have some non-layoff content on ATL.
A Chrysler? At Harvard? How gauche.
Cass Lobster.
This is totally creepy. Just let these people have a life. Surely anyone that cares about Cass and Samantha's talents is not crass enough to get a thrill out of seeing the couple unload dry cleaning in a parking lot.
Also, HLS students are 1) not named Percy, 2) probably not taking pictures of profs.
Percy Thrillington is a pseudonym. Google it.
This is preposterous. Does anybody care about this?
Samantha Power is gorgeous:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/2008/03/buar02_power.jpg
couldn't care less.
Lat,
You are truly a pathetic human being. What a waste of a Yale JD, on someone who has nothing better to do that report on every minutia of the lives of nerds.
sam power = probably not that hot in real life
sam power = also skipped out on teaching a class at the last minute at kennedy school of gov. that wench
cass sunstien = never responds to student e-mails
sam + sam + cass = sassholes
not really that awesome. get over them. get back to real work. this 'escapist' theatre (even now in academia) is taking away from our total productivity as a nation.
get. back. to. work. fixing. the. fucking. economy.
--no capital letters
These turds drive a fucking PT Cruiser?
11 - In academia, they are rock stars. They are the prom king and queen of the Supreme Court clerk / law professor set.
This is the kind of thing that Lat used to do back on his very first blog, Underneath Their Robes.
http://underneaththeirrobes.blogs.com/
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/11/21/051121ta_talk_toobin
I don't get the urgency to this. These could not have been taken recently, what with it being winter and all. Even if it is warmer today in Cambridge than the typical 20s in February, all of the trees in these pictures have leaves. This looks like it was taken in summer. What gives Lat?
WTF is this shit? This post is creeping me out.
12 - Gorgeous? No. Bookish? Yes--she is just a bookworm with a pretty dress on.
Seriously? No one cares about celebrity and faux-celebrity gossip except stupid girls and gay men (i.e. Lat).
The better your academic credentials - the more elite your law school, the better your federal appellate clerkship - the more interesting this is to you.
This material has an elite appeal. It is less interesting to the average ATL reader, who just cares about layoff and bonus news.
This is actually hilarious. I think the irony of treating legal nerds like celebrities is lost on some of you.
Is she any relation to Max Power?
He was the best professor at Chicago Law. Big loss for them.
WHO CARES?
David, you have to do something with your Cass Sunstein fetish. He is just another law professor - does anyone really care to see his paparazzi picture (2 days after you had another post about him)? ENOUGHT!
Samantha Power is a Monster!
.................crickets...................
Holy shit; I used to think that Sam Power was hot, based on the photos that ATL would always use. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! Google Image her, she is butt ugly. I would seriously rather make out with Lat.
They're so smart they drive a PT Cruiser........................................................................................
Lat,
Let us know when you find out that Sunstein has been sleeping with someone else.
It should only be a matter of months...
Samantha Powers ate my lobster and then dumped melted butter on my puppy and ate that too.
The best professor at Chicago?
The most cited, but not the best. Sunstein was an unorganized mess who couldn't communicate what the hell he was talking about.
Strauss (along with just about everyone else!) is far and away a better classroom professor than Sunstein.
blah blah blah cass lobster
Ugly people driving ugly cars. Awesome. Thanks.
I had Cass for three classes at Chicago, and really rather adored him. But he was not then (1995ish) the best professor at Chicago. That was Alan Sykes.
Guys at my high school used to drive the same mediocre domestic cars as world-class academics all the time. It was not a big deal, and it didn't make the cars any better.
Everyone I meet that drives a PT Cruiser gets slapped in the face. It is a good ice breaker.
Hilarious!!!
David Currie was the best classroom professor at U of C. No contest.
this is stalker-ish and weird. please leave them alone.
yes, you do have a right to do it, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
Currie scared me. Epstein was the rock star.
42 = Sarah Powers
43 = Cass Sunstein
Percy Thrillington is a pseudonym once used by Paul McCartney -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrillington -- so while the story connected to the photos may make some gag, kudos to the student for resurrecting an obscure pop music reference.
6 figures? Before or after the decimal??!!
I like photo #5, where she's looking right at the photographer.
My favorite is last photo. You can see that Cass is smiling at being photographed.
How many of you think a hundred thousand pissed off Alaskans with their bear guns and pitchforks should have converged on DC after the SCOTUS Exxon Valdez decision?
Actually, Easterbrook was probably best prof there during my day (if you didn't shit your pants when called upon) -- at least for transactional stuff (Securities Reg, Antitrust). Heard he was kind of dick in Civ Pro. Strauss over Sunstein. Had Sykes as 1L and I kind of liked him, although a lot of others didn't. I never cared much for Currie. Taught 1L Contracts my year and was a bit too much of the Paper Chase bullshit for me.
38--hysterical. Chief Justice in a PT Cruiser. What a putz. I can see Thomas in a light blue Pacer.
Two quick thoughts:
I hope the bride and bridegroom are planning to either (a) comply with Irish law requiring residency in Ireland for one week before getting married or (b) are getting legally married in the States and know that their ceremony in Ireland will be legally insignificant.
Second, I love the PT Cruiser. Reminds me of beloved Justice Blackmun and his old, beatup Beetle that he commuted to the Court in every day.
@49 - Easterbrook is a huge jerk and usually has overpowering body odor. Other judges at the courthouse on South Dearborn don't even like to share the judge's elevator with him.
There is no excuse for driving a PT Cruiser, not even if you're the chief justice.
51: good call on Blackmun and the Beetle. I believe his ashes were carried in a Beetle at his funeral service.
What cars to the other Justices drive? Do we know? Good legal tabloid material.
Scalia drives a BMW:
http://underneaththeirrobes.blogs.com/main/2006/06/judicial_sighta.html
Thomas likes Corvettes and RVs:
"Clarence Thomas is a NASCAR fanatic and enjoys watching basketball and football (he's a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan), driving his black Corvette ZR-1, and traveling around the country in his 40-foot custom-built bus."
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2007/10/01/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-clarence-thomas.html
Many of the current 2Ls and 3Ls here at Chicago had Sunstein and the most positive thing I've heard about him was that he never answered student e-mails, unless they were directed at his book. At the time, Nudge questions got eager responses.
I also spoke with his RA, and he likes the guy. I mean, he's certainly aloof, but it's not like you can't get to know him somehow.
As far as professors, there are many better ones -- Strahi, Levmore, Fennell, and Bernstein come to mind.
Btw: she is actually expecting a baby.
Hated Sunstein; one of if not the most overhyped professors at Chicago; has the make of a philanderer and a sleeze; large ego and sense of entitlement, etc. I've met many brilliant professors in my time, and not one of them seemed as full of himself as this douche.
5, you've got to be kidding me. What's to like about a self-aggrandizing egotistical couple who began dating when the groom was already married to someone else? Who then assume a holier-than thou attitude about how they are goody two shoes saving the world and are misunderstood and anyone who doesn't like them is a sore loser or jealous?
Baird a thousand times over Sunstein.
10 & 44: based on a Google search, it seems "Percy" is a 2L, and has used this pseudonym at least once previously, for a whole blog devoted to a racial incident at HLS (thankfully not including any paparazzi photos!):
http://harvardlawracehoax.wordpress.com
Glad to hear HLS students have so much free time to devote to such things.
Cass "Nudge" Sunstein wants to tell everyone how to run their lives. That's why Obama (or any other liberal for that matter) likes him. Nobody that drives a PT cruiser is going to tell me how to run my life. I will nudge that PT cruiser right up his ass.
Now that they have sweet jobs and some press, maybe they can get a cooler car...
--FlawLESS