Michael S. Kang
Class of 1940 Professor of Law
Phone
(312) 503-7344
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Assistant
Alyson Smith
Assistant Phone
(312) 503-1774
Assistant Email
alyson.smith@law.northwestern.edu
Biography
Michael S. Kang is a nationally recognized expert on campaign finance, voting rights, redistricting, judicial elections, and corporate governance. He is co-author, with Joanna Shepherd, of Free to Judge: The Power of Campaign Money in Judicial Elections (Stanford 2023). His research has been published widely in leading law journals and featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Forbes, among others. His recent work focuses on partisan gerrymandering; the influence of party and campaign finance on elected judges; the de-regulation of campaign finance after Citizens United; and so-called “sore loser laws” that restrict losing primary candidates from running in the general election. The American Constitution Society profiled Professor Kang’s empirical work (with Joanna Shepherd) on judicial campaign ads and judges’ criminal law decisions in Skewed Justice. Their findings were published in the Michigan Law Review and cited by Justice Ginsburg in Williams-Yulee v. Fla. Bar. Professor Kang also was appointed by President Biden to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Areas of Expertise
- Election Law
- Business Associations
- Voting Rights and Redistricting
- Campaign Finance
- Judicial Elections
Selected Publications
- Gerrymandering and the Norm Against Government Partisanship, 116 Michigan Law Review 351 (2017) selected as the Best Election Law Paper of 2017 by the AALS Section on Election Law.
- The Long Shadow of Bush v. Gore, 68 Stanford Law Review 1411 (2016) (with Joanna Shepherd).
- The End of Campaign Finance Law, 98 Virginia Law Review 1 (2012).
- The Partisan Price of Justice: An Empirical Analysis of Campaign Contributions and Judicial Decisions, 86 New York University Law Review 69 (2011) (with Joanna M. Shepherd).
- Sore Loser Laws and Democratic Contestation, 99 Georgetown Law Journal 1013 (2011).
- Voting as Veto, 108 Michigan Law Review 1221 (2010).
Education
- BA, University of Chicago
- MA, University of Illinois
- JD, University of Chicago
- PhD, Harvard University
Prior Appointments
- William G. and Virginia K. Karnes Research Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
- Thomas Simmons Professor of Law, Emory Law School
- Associate Dean of Faculty, Emory Law School
- Ralph S. Tyler, Jr., Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
- Visiting Professor of Law, Cornell Law School