Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and confirmed by a Democratic Senate by unanimous consent. McConnell has previously held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional history, First Amendment, and interpretive theory. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and separation of powers. His book, “The President Who Would Not Be King: Executive Power Under the Constitution,” was published by Princeton University Press in 2020, based on the Tanner Lectures in Human Values, which he delivered at Princeton in 2019. His latest book, co-authored with Nathan Chapman, “Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience,” was published by Oxford University Press in mid-2023. McConnell has argued sixteen cases in the United States Supreme Court, most recently Carney v. Adams (2020). defending a provision of the Delaware Constitution requiring political balance on that state’s courts. More recently, he was co-counsel in Gonzalez v. Google. He earned his B.A. from Michigan State University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago, and has received honorary degrees from Notre Dame University and Michigan State. He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and D.C. Circuit Chief Judge J. Skelly Wright. He has been Assistant General Counsel of the Office of Management & Budget, Assistant to the Solicitor General of the Department of Justice, and a member of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board. He is Senior of Counsel to the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, and is co-chair of Meta’s Oversight Review Board.
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Debate: Presidential Power and Congress's Response
2025 National Student Symposium
Michigan Law Hutchins Hall625 S State St
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Sacred Rights: Native American Religious Liberties and the Apache Stronghold Case
California-UCLA Student Chapter
UCLA School of Law385 Charles E Young Dr E
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Showcase Panel II: How Should the Law Discourage Tribalism, Polarization, Racism, Religious Enmity, and Antisemitism in the United States?
2024 National Lawyers Convention
The Washington Hilton1919 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009
Fireside Chat with Professor McConnell
Georgia Student Chapter
University of Georgia School of Law225 Herty Dr
Athens, GA 30602
Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience
Louisville Lawyers Chapter
Dinsmore & Shohl LLP101 S. 5th Street, Suite 2500
Louisville, KY 40202
Debate: Presidential Power and Congress's Response
2025 National Student Symposium
Featuring: Prof. Michael W. McConnell, Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional...
Debate: Presidential Power and Congress's Response
2025 National Student Symposium
Featuring: Prof. Michael W. McConnell, Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional...
Showcase Panel II: How Should the Law Discourage Tribalism, Polarization, Racism, Religious Enmity, and Antisemitism in the United States?
2024 National Lawyers Convention
Most would agree that all of these [tribalism, polarization, racism, religious enmity, and antisemitism] are...
Showcase Panel II: How Should the Law Discourage Tribalism, Polarization, Racism, Religious Enmity, and Antisemitism in the United States?
2024 National Lawyers Convention
Most would agree that all of these [tribalism, polarization, racism, religious enmity, and antisemitism] are...
Cocktail Hour Reception and Banquet, Arthur N. Rupe Debate and Presentation of the Annual Joseph Story Award and Feddie Awards
2024 National Student Symposium
Join us for a closing banquet and the Arthur N. Rupe Debate, entitled "Resolved: The...

Federalism
How did the Founders envision federalism? Why is it a crucial part of our Constitutional government? Is it still functioning today in the way it...

Amendments
Amendments to the Constitution are almost as old as the Constitution itself. Learn more about the original “Amendments” (which we now call the Bill of...