Peter N. Kirsanow (born October 30, 1953) is a partner with the law firm of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, working within its Labor & Employment Practice Group in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. He is a black civil-rights commissioner and a member of the
United States Commission on Civil Rights
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility fo ...
(a part-time appointment), serving his fourth consecutive 6-year term, which he was reappointed to by House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer in December 2019. He is the longest-serving member among the current commission. He was previously a member of the
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Na ...
(NLRB) from January 2006 to January 2008.
Education
Kirsanow received his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
from
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
in 1976 and then in 1979 received his
Juris Doctor cum laude from the
Cleveland State University College of Law
Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. The school traces its origins to Cleveland Law School (founded in 1897), which merged in 1946 with the John ...
, where he served as articles editor of the Cleveland State Law Review.
Career
Kirsanow served as labor counsel for the City of
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
and as senior labor counsel of Leaseway Transportation Corp.
Kirsanow was appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
in December 2001, but Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry
Mary Frances Berry (born February 17, 1938) is an American historian, writer, lawyer, activist and professor who focuses on U.S. constitutional and legal, African-American history. Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Tho ...
told the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
that it would take federal marshals to seat Kirsanow, fighting his appointment all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. In May 2002, the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
prevailed in its lawsuit to seat Kirsanow as a member of the Commission. He was re-appointed by President Bush to serve a second six-year term on the commission, and then re-appointed once more by U.S. House Speaker
The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U ...
Paul Ryan.
President Bush appointed Kirsanow to the five-member NLRB in 2006 for two years, where he was involved with significant decisions including Oakwood Healthcare, Inc., Dana/Metaldyne and Oil Capital Sheet Metal, Inc. In 2008, Kirsanow returned to the Cleveland law firm of Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP, where he is a partner with the firm's Labor & Employment Practice Group and a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. He represents management in employment-related litigation, contract negations, NLRB proceedings and EEO matters.[
Kirsanow has written articles for ''National Review'' since 2003. Kirsanow testified before the ]Senate Judiciary Committee
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...
on the nominations of John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...
, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...
and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, and at the confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 84th United States Attorney General from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as United States ...
nomination for United States Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
.
Bar admissions and associations
*Ohio, 1979
*U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, 1984[
*U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit][
]
Memberships
*Past Chair of the Board of Directors, The Center for New Black Leadership[
*Member of the Advisory Board of the National Center for Public Policy Research][
*Adjunct Professor, Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, 1992-1993][
*Member, National Labor Relations Board, 2006-2008][
*Commissioner, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2002- ][
]
Books
*"Target Omega" (2017)
*"Second Strike" (2018)
References
External links
Peter Kirsanow
at SourceWatch
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org.
History
CMD was founded in 1993 by prog ...
Profiles of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission Commissioners
Press release about Kirsanow's returning to private practice
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirsanow, Peter N.
1953 births
Cleveland State University College of Law alumni
Cornell University alumni
Living people
National Labor Relations Board officials
Ohio Republicans
Lawyers from Cleveland
United States Commission on Civil Rights members