Professor Resnik's books include Representing Justice: Invention, Controversy, and Rights in City-States and Democratic Courtrooms (with Dennis Curtis, Yale University Press, 2011); Federal Courts Stories (co-edited with Vicki C. Jackson, Foundation Press, 2010); and Migrations and Mobilities: Citizenship, Borders, and Gender (co-edited with Seyla B…

Judith Resnik ’75 Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale University .


Her father, Marvin Resnik was an optometrist who had served in the Army in World War II, and her mother, Sarah, was a paralegal. judith.resnik@yale.edu Judith Resnik is the Arthur Liman Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where she teaches about federalism, procedure, courts, equality, and citizenship.

Born on April 5, 1949, in Akron, Ohio, Judith A. Resnik grew up under the influence of two talented parents. Judith Resnik’s body of work is devoted to such far-reaching questions of social justice that it defies neat summation.

Judith Arlene Resnik(/ˈrɛznɪk/; April 5, 1949 – January 28, 1986) was an American electrical engineer, software engineer, biomedical engineer, pilotand NASAastronautwho died aboard the Space Shuttle Challengerwhen it was destroyedduring the launch of mission STS-51-L. Resnik was the second American woman in space and the fourth woman in space worldwide, logging 145 hours in orbit. Resnik's parents raised her as an observant Jew and she studied Hebrew as a child. As a litigator she has argued for women’s rights in front of the Supreme Court. She also holds a term appointment as an Honorary Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London.