Deputy Commissioner, Nassau County Department of Social Services and Human Services
Professor of Law and J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow, University of North Dakota School of Law
Michael S. McGinniss is Professor of Law and J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where he joined the faculty in 2010 and served as the Dean from 2019 to 2022. He chairs the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Practice Group on Professional Responsibility and Legal Education.
Before entering the legal academy, Professor McGinniss served for twelve years as a Disciplinary Counsel for the Supreme Court of Delaware. He teaches courses including Professional Responsibility, Advanced Legal Ethics, Civil Procedure, and Federal Courts. He also serves as Faculty Advisor for the North Dakota Law Review and the UND Law Federalist Society student chapter.
Professor McGinniss’ research and scholarship interests are wide-ranging and include lawyer and judicial ethics, constitutional law (especially First Amendment, separation of powers, and federalism), and cultural challenges faced by conservatives in the law schools and the legal profession. His most recent law review article, Declaring Independence to Secure Integrity: The Supreme Court Justices' Code of Conduct, was published in the Federalist Society Review. His article Expressing Conscience with Candor: Saint Thomas More and First Freedoms in the Legal Profession, was published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Professor McGinniss has spoken to Federalist Society lawyer and student chapters across the country about judicial independence and ethics, especially relating to the federal courts and the United States Supreme Court Justices. He has also provides talks addressing rising challenges to ideological diversity and targeting of conservative viewpoints in law schools and the legal profession, and his current research is focusing on the impacts of ideological biases and public policy disagreements on lawyer discipline processes.
Attorney, Institute for Justice
Anya Bidwell (née Cherkasova) leads IJ’s Project on Immunity and Accountability (“PIA”). Through this project, Anya works to promote judicial engagement and ensure that government officials are held to account when they violate individuals’ constitutional rights. Anya also serves as an adviser on the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law, Constitutional Torts project.
One of Anya’s PIA cases—Gonzalez v. Trevino—was heard by the United States Supreme Court on March 20, 2024. She argued the case for the petitioner, with the goal of convincing the Justices that retaliatory arrests not involving on-the-spot decisions by police officers should be actionable under the First Amendment regardless of probable cause. The decision is expected in June.
This was Anya’s third appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court. She second-chaired Brownback v. King (an excessive force case) and Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas (a commerce clause case) in November 2020 and January 2019 respectfully.
Before joining IJ, Anya worked for a top national law firm, handling cases in trial and appellate courts. She earned her J.D. with honors from the University of Texas. Two years prior to entering law school, Anya received a master’s degree in Global Policy Studies, also from the University of Texas, and wrote a thesis on asymmetric warfare.
Anya spent her childhood in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. At 16, she left her family behind and came to America on a university scholarship. Her upbringing motivated her to study law and become an advocate for a strong, independent judiciary.
Anya’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, and the Guardian. She is also the host of live recordings of our Short Circuit podcast and a co-producer of our documentary-style podcast Bound by Oath.
Trump, The Rule of Law, and the Constitution
Portland Lawyers Chapter
Portland, ORWilliam Rehnquist - The Chief Justice As Counter Revolutionary
Long Island Lawyers Chapter
Mineola, NYTopics
Using Originalism to Attack Mass Incarceration: A Review of Rachel Barkow’s Justice Abandoned
It is a singular fact of life in America that with five percent of the...
Declaring Independence to Secure Integrity: The Supreme Court Justices' Code of Conduct
Michael S. McGinniss
[T]he judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power; that it...
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The Ascertainable Standards that Define the Boundaries of the SEC’s Rulemaking Authority
In March 2022, prior to the publication of the SEC’s proposed rule on climate-related disclosures––The...
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The Supreme Court’s Shrunken “Discuss List”
This post originally appeared at the Volokh Conspiracy. Buried in the commentary to the Supreme...
Iowa Supreme Court Reverses Ruling That Recognized Implied Rights of Action under the Iowa Constitution
Anya Bidwell
If states are laboratories of democracy, then state judiciaries run these labs’ clinical trials for...
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The Chief Justice at His Best and Worst
Sometimes Chief Justice John Roberts writes beautifully. When he does, his writing is understated; he...
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Rights to Privacy and Life Were Compatible until Roe
Half a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a federal constitutional right...
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In Memoriam Orrin Hatch
In 1976, when I was still in college and the world was young, a 43...