David Scoenbrod has served as a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute and is now a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. From 1972-79, he was one of the leaders of the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he campaigned to reduce lead in gasoline, resurrect the then-decrepit New York City subway, and protect the environment of Puerto Rico. Since 1979, he has been a professor of law.
His books include D.C. Confidential: Inside the Five Tricks of Washington (Encounter Books, 2017) (with forewords by Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. Mike Lee); Breaking the Logjam: Environmental Protection That Will Work (Yale University Press, 2010) (with Richard B. Stewart and Katrina Wyman); Saving Our Environment from Washington: How Congress Grabs Power, Shirks Responsibility, and Shortchanges the People (Yale University Press, 2005); Democracy by Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government (Yale University Press, 2003) (with Ross Sandler); and Power Without Responsibility: How Congress Abuses the People Through Delegation (Yale University Press, 1993). In addition to his academic publications, he has frequently contributed opinion pieces to the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, the New York Times, and other outlets.
He earned his undergraduate degree from Yale College, a graduate degree in economics from Oxford University, which he attended as a Marshall Scholar, and a law degree from Yale Law School.