Pamela Susan Karlan (born 1959) is an American legal scholar who is the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. She is on a leave of absence from Stanford Law School. A leading legal scholar on voting rights and constitutional law, she previously served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the DOJ's Civil Division from 2014 to 2015.

Education

Karlan earned her B.A. degree in history from Yale University in 1980, as well as an M.A. degree in history and J.D. degree in 1984. At Yale Law School, she served as an article and book reviews editor of the ''

Yale Law Journal The ''Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ), known also as the ''Yale Law Review'', is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students ...

''. After graduation from law school, Karlan worked as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for former U.S. District Judge

Abraham David Sofaer Abraham David Sofaer (born May 6, 1938) is an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and legal adviser to the United States State Departm ...

of the Southern District of New York from 1984 to 1985. She went on to clerk for

U.S. Supreme Court Justice 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 of ...

Harry Blackmun Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. Appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon, Blac ...

the following year. In a 1995 oral history with

Harold Koh Harold Hongju Koh (born December 8, 1954) is an American lawyer and legal scholar who served as the legal adviser of the Department of State in the Obama administration. He was nominated to this position by President Barack Obama on March 23, 20 ...

, Blackmun revealed that his dissent in '' Bowers v. Hardwick'' had been written primarily by Karlan. He said that Karlan "did a lot of very effective writing, and I owe a lot to her and her ability in getting that dissent out. She felt very strongly about it, and I think is correct in her approach to it. I think the dissent is correct."

Career

After her clerkships, Karlan worked as an assistant counsel at the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

from 1986 to 1988. From 1988 to 1998, Karlan taught law at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

, where she won the All-University Outstanding Teaching Award in 1995–96 and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1997. In 1998, Karlan joined the faculty of Stanford Law School. She is the school's Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law. In 2004, Karlan cofounded the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, through which students litigate live cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2002, Karlan won the school's prestigious John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching. On December 4, 2019, Karlan—alongside law professors Noah Feldman,

Michael Gerhardt Michael J. Gerhardt is the Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill. He is also the director of the Center on Law and Government at the University of North Carolina a ...

, and Jonathan Turley—testified before the

House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...

regarding the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment in the Impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. She made a controversial statement delivered during the December 2019, impeachment hearing of President Trump, "Contrary to what President Trump has said, Article 2

f the Constitution F, or f, is the sixth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet#Let ...

does not give him the power to do anything he wants", noting that "The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can't make him a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

." Karlan apologized afterward. Karlan is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the

American Academy of Appellate Lawyers The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers is a non-profit organization consisting of the Fellows who have been elected to the Academy. It was founded in 1990 and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 1991. Its mission is to "advance the highest standards ...

, and the

American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...

. On May 6, 2020, Facebook appointed her to its content oversight board, from which she resigned in February 2021 to join the Biden administration as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

Public service

In 2003, she was appointed to the California Fair Political Practices Commission by

Controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...

Steve Westly. Until 2005, she served as commissioner to help implement and enforce California's campaign finance, lobbying, and

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

laws. On December 20, 2013, Karlan was appointed by the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

to serve as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. The position did not require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Karlan took up her post on January 13, 2014, and served for one year. For her work in implementing the Supreme Court decision in '' United States v. Windsor'', she received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service, the DOJ's highest award for employee performance. Throughout her career, Karlan has been an advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was mentioned as a potential candidate to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter when he retired in 2009. In November 2020, Karlan was named a volunteer member of the

Joe Biden presidential transition The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020 and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week o ...

Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of Justice. In February 2021, Karlan was named a principal deputy assistant attorney general in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

Political views

Peter Baker, a '' New York Times''

political writer The following people are authors of writings on political subjects: See also *Lists of writers The following are lists of writers: Alphabetical indices A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H&n ...

, described Karlan as "a full-throated, unapologetic liberal torchbearer". Karlan has said that the United States should help Ukraine fight Russia so that the United States does not have to fight Russia on its own territory.

Personal life

Karlan told '' Politico'' in 2009, "It's no secret at all that I'm counted among the LGBT crowd". She has described herself as an example of "snarky,

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

, Jewish women". Her partner is writer

Viola Canales Viola Canales (born 21 April 1957) is a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School as well as a writer who has published two novels, a short story collection, and a book of poetry. She is best known for ''The Tequila Worm'' (2005), which won several ...

Works and publications

Selected books

* *

Selected journal articles

* * * * *

References

External links

Pamela S. Karlan
at

Stanford University Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford ...

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Pamela S. Karlan
at Social Science Research Network {{DEFAULTSORT:Karlan, Pamela S. 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Bisexual women Bisexual writers Jewish American attorneys LGBT Jews American LGBT writers Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Living people Stanford Law School faculty University of Virginia School of Law faculty Women legal scholars Yale Law School alumni Bisexual academics 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers American women academics Facebook Oversight Board members 1959 births 21st-century American Jews