Michael W. McConnell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Michael W. McConnell | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2002 |
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| Nominated by | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Stephen Hale Anderson |
| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
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| Born | May 18, 1955 Louisville, Kentucky |
Michael W. McConnell (born May 18, 1955 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and a constitutional law scholar.
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[edit] Biography
McConnell graduated from Michigan State University in 1976. McConnell received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979. He was a law clerk for James Skelly Wright, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1979-1980, and for Associate Justice William Brennan, Supreme Court of the United States, 1980-1981. He was an assistant general counsel at the Office of Management and Budget, 1981-1983, and an assistant to the Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice, 1983-1985. He was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, 1985-1996, and then at the University of Utah College of Law, 1997 to the present.
He was nominated by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2001, and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on November 15, 2002 by voice vote. Judge McConnell remains a professor at the University of Utah College of Law and also teaches courses at Harvard Law School and has recently been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School (2006) and at Stanford Law School (2007).
McConnell has been mentioned as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court during the George W. Bush presidency. In June 2005, amid expectations that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist would retire at the end of the Court's term, some sources cited McConnell as a frontrunner for Rehnquist's seat, which ultimately went to John Roberts. [1] Professor Stephen B. Presser of Northwestern University School of Law has argued that "McConnell is high on the White House's short list", because:
- [McConnell] does believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far in reading the total separation of church and state into the Constitution, and because he ...understands that Roe v. Wade has no firm constitutional foundation. He might be acceptable to the left not only because so many liberal professors support him, but also because he has been public in his criticism of Bush v. Gore and the impeachment of President Clinton.
Some may object to McConnell because of his public support for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, while others might object because McConnell thinks an amendment would be needed in order to accomplish that goal. [2]
[edit] Academic writing & legal practice
Before his appointment to the federal bench, Judge McConnell published a variety of legal articles and edited several books. He also argued cases in federal courts of appeals and before the Supreme Court, including a 5-4 victory in Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. [1] He is widely regarded as one of the preeminent constitutional law scholars on the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses.[citation needed]
A Constitutional originalist, McConnell has contended that originalism is consistent with the Supreme Court's 1955 desegregation decision Brown v. Board of Education, against critics of originalism who argue that they are inconsistent.[2][3] McConnell has likewise argued that the Court's decision in Bolling v. Sharpe was correct, but should have been reached on other grounds, because Congress never "required that the schools of the District of Columbia be segregated."[4]
[edit] Judicial service
While sitting on the Tenth Circuit, Judge McConnell has written scores of judicial opinions. Judge McConnell has also continued to publish on legal topics. His most recent articles are Active Liberty: A Progressive Alternative to Textualism and Originalism?, a review in the Harvard Law Review of Justice Breyer's book Active Liberty and, in the Denver University Law Review, The Booker Mess.
[edit] Publications
His academic scholarship includes, among other publications, the following:
- The Booker Mess, 83 Denv. U. L. Rev. 665 (2006).
- Book Review: Active Liberty: A Progressive Alternative to Textualism and Originalism?, 119 Harv. L. Rev. 2387 (2006).
- The Ethics of Etiquette: An Introduction to a Symposium in Honor of Dean Lee E. Teitelbaum, 2006 Utah L. Rev. 1.
- Establishment and Disestablishment at the Founding, Part I: Establishment of Religion, 44 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 2105 (2003).
- Religious Freedom, Separation of Powers, and the Reversal of Roles, 2001 BYU L. Rev. 611.
- Two-and-a-Half Cheers for Bush v. Gore, 68 U. Chi. L. Rev. 657 (2001).
- The Supreme Court's Earliest Church-State Cases: Windows on Religious-Cultural-Political Conflict in the Early Republic, 37 Tulsa L. Rev. 7 (2001).
- State Action and the Supreme Court's Emerging Consensus on the Line between Establishment and Private *Religious Expression, 28 Pepp. L. Rev. 681 (2000).
- The Redistricting Cases: Original Mistakes and Current Consequences, 24 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 103 (2000).
- The Problem of Singling Out Religion, 50 DePaul L. Rev. 1 (2000).
- The New Establishmentarianism, 75 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 453 (1999).
- Why is Religious Liberty the First Freedom, 21 Cardozo L. Rev. 1243 (1999).
- Five Reasons to Reject the Claim That Religious Arguments Should Be Excluded from Democratic Deliberation, 1999 Utah L. Rev. 639 (1999).
- Freedom From Persecution or Protection of the Rights of Conscience?: A Critique of Justice Scalia's Historical *Arguments in City of Boerne v. Flores, 39 William and Mary Law Review 819 (1998).
- Tradition and Constitutionalism before the Constitution, 1998 U. Ill. L. Rev. 173.
- Equal Treatment and Religious Discrimination in Equal Treatment of Religion in a Pluralistic Society, Stephen V. Monsma and J. Christopher Soper, eds. (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998).
- Governments, Families, and Power: A Defense of Educational Choice, 31 Conn. L. Rev. 847 (1998).
- Institutions and Interpretation: A Critique of City of Boerne v. Flores, 111 Harvard Law Review 153 (1997).
- The Importance of Humility in Judicial Review: A Comment on Ronald Dworkin's 'Moral Reading' of the Constitution, 65 Fordham Law Review 1269 (1997).
- "Believers As Equal Citizens," Law and Religion: Obligations of Democratic Citizenship and Demands of Faith Symposium, Brown University (April, 1997).
- The Right to Die and the Jurisprudence of Tradition, 1997 Utah Law Review 665.
- Establishment and Toleration in Edmund Burke's "Constitution of Freedom" 1995 Supreme Court Review 393.
- Segregation and the Original Understanding--A Reply to Professor Maltz, 13 Constitutional Commentary 233 (1996).
- The Importance of Humility in Judicial Review: A Comment on Ronald Dworkin's Moral Reading of the Constitution, 65 Fordham L. Rev. 1269 (1996).
- The Originalist Case for Brown v. Board of education, 19 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 457 (1995).
- The Originalist Justification for Brown: A Reply to Professor Klarman, 81 Virginia Law Review 1937 (1995).
- Originalism and the Desegregation Decisions, 81 Virginia Law Review 947 (1995).
- The Forgotten Constitutional Moment, 11 Const. Comment. 115 (1994).
- Doubtful Constitutionality of the Clinic Access Bill, 1 Va. J. Soc. Pol'y & L. 267 (1994) (with Michael Stokes Paulsen).
- Book review: Religion and the search for a principled middle ground on abortion, 92 Mich. L. Rev. 1893 (1994).
- Christ, Culture, and Courts: A Nielbuhrian Examination of First Amendment Jurisprudence, 42 De Paul L. Rev. 191 (1993).
- God is Dead and We Have Killed Him: Freedom of Religion in the Post-Modern Age, 1993 BYU L. Rev. 163.
- When Cities Go Broke: A Conceptual Introduction to Municipal Bankruptcy, 60 U. Chi. L. Rev. 425 (1993) (with Randal Picker).
- Accommodation of Religion: An Update and a Response to the Critics, 60 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 685 (1992).
- Should Congress Pass Legislation Restoring the Broader Interpretation of Free Exercise of Religion, 15 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 181 (1992).
- Religious Participation in Public Programs-- Religious Freedom at a Crossroads, 59 U. Chi. L. Rev. 115 (1992).
- The Fourteenth Amendment: A Second American Revolution or the Logical Culmination of the Tradition, 25 Loy. L. A. L. Rev. 1159 (1991).
- Book review: How Not To Promote Serious Deliberation About Abortion, 58 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1181 (1991).
- A Response to Professor Marshall, 58 U. Chi. L. Rev. 329 (1991).
- Multiculturalism, Majoritarianism, and Educational Choice: What Does Our Constitutional Tradition Have to Say?, 1991 U. Chi. Legal F. 123 (1991).
- The Origins and Historical Understanding of the Free Exercise of Religion, 103 Harv. L. Rev. 1409 (1990).
- The Selective Funding Problem: Abortions and Religious Schools, 104 Harv. L. Rev. 989 (1990).
- Academic Freedom in Religious Colleges and Universities, 53 Law & Contemp. Probs. 303 (1990).
- Free Exercise Revisionism and the Smith Decision, 57 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1109 (1990).
- An Economic Approach to Issues of Religious Freedom, 56 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1 (1989) (with Richard A. Posner).
- Unconstitutional Conditions: Unrecognized Implications for the Establishment Clause, 26 San Diego L. Rev. 255 (1989).
- The Origins and Historical Understanding of Free Exercise of Religion, 103 Harv. L. Rev. 1409 (1989).
- Contract Rights and Property Rights: A Case Study in the Relationship between Individual Liberties and Constitutional Structure, 76 Cal. L. Rev. 267 (1988).
- A Moral Realist Defense of Constitutional Democracy, 64 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 89 (1988).
- The Religion Claues of the First Amendment: Where Is The Supreme Court Heading?, 32 Cath. Law. 187 (1988).
- The First Amendment Jurisprudence of Judge Robert H. Bork, 9 Carozo L. Rev. 79 (1987).
- The Rule of Law and the Role of the Solicitor General, 21 Loy L. A. L. Rev. 1105 (1987).
- Why Hold Elections - Using Consent Decrees to Insulate Policies from Political Change, 1987 U. Chi. Legal F. 295 (1987).
- You Can't Tell the Players in Church-State Disputes without a Scorecard, 10 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 27 (1987).
- On Reading the Constitution, 73 Cornell L. Rev. 359 (1987).
- Political and Religious Disestablishment, 1986 BYU L. Rev. 405 (1986).
- Neutrality under the Religion Clauses, 81 Nw. U. L. Rev. 146 (1986).
- Accommodation of Religion, 1985 Sup. Ct. Rev. 1.
- Coercion: The Lost Element of Establishment, 27 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 933 (1985).
- The Politics of Returning Power to the States, 6 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 103 (1982).
- The Appealability of Orders Denying Motions for Disqualification of Ccounsel in the Federal Courts, 45 U. Chi. L. Rev. 450 (1977) (student note).
[edit] References
- ^ His oral argument in Rosenberger may be heard here.
- ^ Ramesh Ponnuru, "Originalist Sin: Conservatives, the Constitution, and affirmative action," National Review, March 10, 2003
- ^ Brian C. Anderson, "Why the Battle for the Court Will Be Nasty," City Journal, 2002 Summer, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 64-76.
- ^ Michael McConnell in What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said, page 168, ed. Jack Balkin (NYU Press 2002).
- Alicia Caldwell and John Aloysius Farrell, Appeals judge has appeal -- to some," Denver Post, June 26, 2005, p. A-1.
[edit] See also
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
[edit] External links
- Federal Judicial Center Profile
- A selection of McConnell's essays for the Wall Street Journal
- S.J. Quinney College of Law Profile - McConnell's Faculty Profile at the University of Utah
- Various resources about Judge McConnell from confirmthem.com
| Preceded by Stephen Hale Anderson |
Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit 2002-present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
