Pamela S. Karlan

Last updated
Pamela Karlan
Kissel Lecture in Ethics with Pamela Karlan (49565892516) crop3.jpeg
Karlan at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics in 2020
Born
Pamela Susan Karlan

1959 (age 64–65)
Education Yale University (BA, MA, JD)
OccupationAmerican legal scholar
Years active1984–present
Partner Viola Canales

Pamela Susan Karlan (born 1959) is an American legal scholar who was the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice from February 8, 2021 until July 1, 2022. [1] She is a professor at Stanford Law School. [2] A leading legal scholar on voting rights and constitutional law, she previously served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division from 2014 to 2015. [3]

Contents

Education

Karlan graduated from Yale University, where she received a B.A. in history in 1980, as well as an M.A. in history and J.D. in 1984. [4] At Yale Law School, she served as an article and book reviews editor of the Yale Law Journal . [5]

After graduation from law school, Karlan worked as a law clerk for then-U.S. District Judge Abraham David Sofaer of the Southern District of New York from 1984 to 1985. She went on to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun the following year. In a 1995 oral history with Harold Koh, Blackmun revealed that his dissent in Bowers v. Hardwick had been written primarily by Karlan. He said that Karlan "did a lot of very effective writing, and I owe a lot to her and her ability in getting that dissent out. She felt very strongly about it, and I think is correct in her approach to it. I think the dissent is correct." [6]

Career

After her clerkships, Karlan worked as an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1986 to 1988.

From 1988 to 1998, Karlan taught law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she won the All-University Outstanding Teaching Award in 1995–96 and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1997. [7] In 1998, Karlan joined the faculty of Stanford Law School. She is the school's Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law. In 2004, Karlan cofounded the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, through which students litigate live cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. [5] In 2002, Karlan won the school's prestigious John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching. [7]

On December 4, 2019, Karlan—alongside law professors Noah Feldman, Michael Gerhardt, and Jonathan Turley—testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment in the Impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. [8] She made a controversial statement delivered during the December 2019, impeachment hearing of President Trump, "Contrary to what President Trump has said, Article 2 [of the Constitution] does not give him the power to do anything he wants", noting that "The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can't make him a baron." Karlan apologized afterward. [9]

Karlan is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and the American Law Institute. [7]

On May 6, 2020, Facebook appointed her to its content oversight board, [10] from which she resigned in February 2021 to join the Biden administration as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. [1]

Public service

In 2003, she was appointed to the California Fair Political Practices Commission by Controller Steve Westly. Until 2005, she served as commissioner to help implement and enforce California's campaign finance, lobbying, and conflict of interest laws. [5]

On December 20, 2013, Karlan was appointed by the Obama administration to serve as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. [11] The position did not require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Karlan took up her post on January 13, 2014, and served for one year. [12] [13] For her work in implementing the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Windsor , she received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service, the DOJ's highest award for employee performance. [7]

Throughout her career, Karlan has been an advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court. [14] She was mentioned as a potential candidate to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter when he retired in 2009. [15]

In November 2020, Karlan was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of Justice. [16]

In February 2021, Karlan was named a principal deputy assistant attorney general in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. [17]

Political views

Peter Baker, a New York Times political writer, described Karlan as "a full-throated, unapologetic liberal torchbearer". [18] Karlan has said that the United States should help Ukraine fight Russia so that the United States does not have to fight Russia on its own territory. [19]

Personal life

Karlan told Politico in 2009, "It's no secret at all that I'm counted among the LGBT crowd". [20] She has described herself as an example of "snarky, bisexual, Jewish women". [21] Her partner is writer Viola Canales. [22]

Works and publications

Selected books

Selected journal articles

Supreme Court cases argued

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalist Society</span> American conservative legal organization

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has chapters at more than 200 law schools and features student, lawyer, and faculty divisions; the lawyers division comprises more than 70,000 practicing attorneys in ninety cities. Through speaking events, lectures, and other activities, it provides a forum for legal experts of opposing conservative views to interact with members of the legal profession, the judiciary, and the legal academy. It is one of the most influential legal organizations in the United States.

Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld, in a 5–4 ruling, the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults, in this case with respect to homosexual sodomy, though the law did not differentiate between homosexual and heterosexual sodomy. It was overturned in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), though the statute had already been struck down by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Blackmun</span> US Supreme Court justice from 1970 to 1994

Harry Andrew Blackmun was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. Appointed by President Richard Nixon, Blackmun ultimately became one of the most liberal justices on the Court. He is best known as the author of the Court's opinion in Roe v. Wade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanford Law School</span> Law school of Stanford University, California, U.S

Stanford Law School (SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% in 2021, the second-lowest of any law school in the country. Paul Brest currently serves as Interim Dean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merrick Garland</span> American lawyer and jurist (born 1952)

Merrick Brian Garland is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as the 86th United States attorney general. He previously served as a U.S. circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 2021. In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Republican-led U.S. Senate effectively blocked Garland's appointment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diane Wood</span> American judge (born 1950)

Diane Pamela Wood is an American attorney who serves as the director of the American Law Institute, a senior circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenn Fine</span> American lawyer (born 1956)

Glenn Alan Fine is the former principal deputy Inspector General of the Department of Defense and former Acting IG of the Department of Defense. Fine previously served as the Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) from 2000 until January 2011. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 15, 2000. Prior to his appointment as the DOJ Inspector General, Fine served as Special Counsel to the DOJ Inspector General from January 1995 until 1996, when he was made Director of the OIG's Special Investigations and Review Unit.

Viola Canales is a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School as well as a writer who has published two novels, a short story collection, and a book of poetry. She is best known for The Tequila Worm (2005), which won several awards, including the Pura Belpré Award and others.

Beth S. Brinkmann is an American lawyer who served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice, heading up the appellate staff in the DOJ's Civil Division during the administration of President Barack Obama. She also served as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States from 1993 through 2001. Brinkmann has argued 25 cases before the United States Supreme Court both in that role and in her later role as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the firm Morrison & Foerster. Currently, Brinkmann is a partner at the Covington & Burling law firm in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Pildes</span> American legal scholar

Richard H. Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at the New York University School of Law and a expert on constitutional law, the Supreme Court, the system of government in the United States, and legal issues concerning the structure of democracy, including election law. His scholarship focuses on public law and legal issues affecting democracy.

Dawn Elizabeth Johnsen is an American lawyer and the Walter W. Foskett Professor of Constitutional law, on the faculty at Maurer School of Law at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She previously served in the Biden administration as Acting Attorney General at the Office of Legal Counsel, having been appointed on January 20, 2021 by President Joe Biden, to return to the role she previously held in the Clinton administration. She was succeeded in that role in a permanent capacity by Christopher H. Schroeder, and is currently serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the same office

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul G. Cassell</span> American judge (born 1959)

Paul George Cassell is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah, who is currently the Ronald N. Boyce Presidential Professor of Criminal Law and University Distinguished Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. He is best known as an expert in, and proponent of, victims' rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanita Gupta</span> American lawyer (born 1974)

Vanita Gupta is an American attorney who served as United States Associate Attorney General from April 22, 2021, to February 2, 2024. From 2014 to 2017, Gupta served as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division under President Barack Obama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher H. Schroeder</span> American lawyer and professor (born 1948)

Christopher Henry Schroeder is an American lawyer who served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Biden Administration from 2021 to 2023. He served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the United States Department of Justice during the presidency of Barack Obama, serving from April 2010 until December 2012. Before and after his time as Assistant Attorney General, he was the Charles S. Murphy Professor of Law and Professor of Public Policy Studies at Duke University School of Law. He is now Professor Emeritus of the same institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Bagenstos</span> American attorney & academic (born 1970)

Samuel Robert Bagenstos is an American attorney and academic who is the General Counsel of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. From January 2021 until June 2022, he served as the general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget. He is a former law professor at the University of Michigan, a job he returned to after serving for two years as the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez.

Hodges v. United States, 203 U.S. 1 (1906), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court limiting the power of Congress to make laws under the Thirteenth Amendment. Three white men had been convicted in the Eastern Arkansas District Court for conspiring against black sawmill workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sally Yates</span> American lawyer, 36th United States Deputy Attorney General (born 1960)

Sally Quillian Yates is an American lawyer. From 2010 to 2015, she was United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. In 2015, she was appointed United States Deputy Attorney General by President Barack Obama. Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump and the departure of Attorney General Loretta Lynch on January 20, 2017, Yates served as Acting Attorney General for 10 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathaniel Persily</span>

Nathaniel Persily is the James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he has taught since 2013. He is a scholar of constitutional law, election law, and the democratic process.

Cristina María Rodríguez is the Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School, the school's first tenured Hispanic professor. Before joining the faculty at Yale, Rodríguez was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel within the United States Department of Justice. After earning her JD, she clerked for David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals and Sandra Day O'Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates</span> Persons nominated or considered for nomination

With the advice and consent of the United States Senate, the president of the United States appoints the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court of the federal judiciary of the United States. Following his victory in the 2020 presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden took office as president on January 20, 2021. During the 2020 Democratic primary campaign, Biden pledged to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court, although unlike his opponent, Donald Trump, Biden did not release a specific list of potential nominees during the 2020 general election campaign.

References

  1. 1 2 Lima, Cristiano (6 February 2021). "Facebook oversight board member decamps for Biden DOJ". Politico. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  2. ↑ Ashe, Stephanie (25 February 2021). "Stanford Law's Pam Karlan Joins U.S. Department of Justice". SLS News. Stanford Law School. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Stuart. "An excellent Supreme Court shortlist". National Journal. Atlantic Media Company. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12.
  4. ↑ "Profile: Pamela S. Karlan". Stanford Law School. Archived from the original on 2008-06-05.
  5. 1 2 3 Karlan, Pamela S. "CV" (PDF). Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  6. ↑ Volokh, Eugene (23 April 2005). "Saturday, April 23, 2005". The Volokh Conspiracy: The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Pamela S. Karlan Biography". Stanford Law School. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  8. ↑ Fadulu, Lola (4 December 2019). "Who Is Pamela Karlan? Legal Leader Committed to Progressive Causes". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ C-Span: Professor Pamela Karlan references Barron Trump and later apologizes for it. Dec 4, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Facebook is spending $130 million to create a 'Supreme Court' that can overrule Mark Zuckerberg — here are its first 20 members". Business Insider . 6 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  11. ↑ Gerstein, Josh (20 December 2013). "Karlan to take Justice Department voting rights post". The Politico . Capitol News Company. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Pamela S. Karlan | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  13. ↑ Gregg, Remington (13 January 2014). "HRC Blog: Pamela Karlan takes helm as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in DOJ Civil Rights Division". hrc.org. Human Rights Campaign. Archived from the original on January 15, 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  14. ↑ Liptak, Adam (31 December 2005). "So, guy walks up to the bar, and Scalia says..." The New York Times .
  15. ↑ "Articles about Pamela S. Karlan". The New York Times .
  16. ↑ "Agency Review Teams". President-Elect Joe Biden. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  17. ↑ "Facebook oversight board member decamps for Biden DOJ". Politico . 6 February 2021.
  18. ↑ Baker, Peter. (25 May 2009). "Favorites of Left Don't Make Obama's Court List". New York Times website Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  19. ↑ Hains, Tim (4 December 2019). "Professor Karlan: Ukraine Is Important "So We Can Fight The Russians There And We Don't Have To Fight Them Here"". RealClearPolitics .
  20. ↑ Gerstein, Josh (5 May 2009). "Groups push for first gay Supreme Court justice". The Politico . Capitol News Company. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  21. ↑ "American Constitution Society Blog: Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan concludes 2006 ACS National Convention". American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. 22 June 2006. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  22. ↑ Jean Ann, Esselink (29 December 2013). "On our radar – An overdue thank you To Pamela Karlan". The New Civil Rights Movement. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.