Michael S. Kang
William G. and Virginia K. Karnes Research Professor of Law
Phone
(312) 503-7344
Assistant
Matthew Bergin
Assistant Phone
(312) 503-2088
Assistant Email
matthew.bergin@law.northwestern.edu
Biography
Michael S. Kang is the William G. and Virginia K. Karnes Research Professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and a nationally recognized expert on campaign finance, voting rights, redistricting, judicial elections, and corporate governance. 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 received his BA and JD from the University of Chicago, where he served as technical editor of the Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. He also received a PhD in government from Harvard University and an MA from the University of Illinois. At the University of Chicago, Professor Kang studied constitutional law with then-lecturer Barack Obama, and after law school, he clerked for Judge Kanne on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and worked in private practice at Ropes & Gray in Boston.
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
- 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