Samuel Issacharoff (born 1954) is an American legal scholar. His scholarly work focuses on constitutional law, voting rights and

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

. He is the Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law at

New York University School of Law The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

Early life

Issacharoff's mother was born in Argentina to

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

immigrants from Eastern Europe (Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian). His father was born in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, and was of Bukharian Jewish descent from

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Both his parents were secular Jews, and Issacharoff has described himself as an atheist.

Education

Issacharoff earned his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

in 1983, where he also served as an editor for the ''

Yale Law Journal ''The Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ) 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 at Yale Law School. The journal is one ...

''. He completed his B.A. with a major in

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

at the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

at Binghamton in 1975.

Career

Issacharoff graduated from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

in 1975 and

in 1983. Issacharoff was born in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in Buenos Aires. He is currently the Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

. He served as a visiting professor at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

for the Fall 2008 semester. Prior to joining NYU Law's faculty, he taught at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

and The University of Texas School of Law. In 2017, Issacharof was interviewed by Suraj Patel for ''Talks on Law'' on the topic of

gerrymandering Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...

Professional Service

Issacharoff serves on the Council of the American Law Institute, having previously been the lead Reporter for the ALI’s Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation. In addition to his academic work, Issacharoff has argued dozens of cases in the federal courts of appeals, including in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Publications

''The Supreme Court, 2012 Term — Comment: Beyond the Discrimination Model on Voting''
127 Harv. L. Rev. 95 (2013).
''The Supreme Court, 2009 Term — Comment: On Political Corruption''
124 Harv. L. Rev. 118 (2010).
''Fragile Democracies''
120 Harv. L. Rev. 1405 (2007). *'' Party Funding and Campaign Financing in International Perspective'' with Keith Ewing (eds.) (2006) *''

Civil Procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

'' (2005) (pbk. : alk. paper). *'' The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process'' with Pamela S. Karlan, Richard H. Pildes. (1998) (alk. paper). *''The State of Voting Rights Law'' (1993). *''When Elections Go Bad: The Law of Democracy and the Presidential Election of 2000'' with Pamela S. Karlan, Richard H. Pildes. Rev. ed. (2001) (alk. paper)

Books

* Democracy unmoored: populism and the corruption of popular sovereignty, * (Oxford University Press, 2023). * Fragile democracies: contested power in the era of constitutional courts, (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2015). * Civil procedure (Foundation Press, 5th edition, 2022). * The law of democracy: legal structure of the political process (with Pamela Karlan, Richard Pildes, Nathaniel Persily and Franita Tolson) (Foundation Press, 6th. edition, 2022). * Party funding and campaign financing in international perspective (with K.D. Ewing) (Hart Press, Oxford, 2006).

Personal life

His wife,

Cynthia Estlund Cynthia Estlund (born 1957) is the Catherine A. Rein Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. Career Estlund teaches United States labor law, labor law, employment law, and property law and has published numerous articles on th ...

, is a labor and employment-law professor, also at New York University School of Law.

References

External links

NYU faculty profilePapers by Samuel Issacharoff in SSRN''New York Observer'', "NYU's Big Raid"
1954 births Living people American legal scholars New York University faculty Yale Law School alumni Binghamton University alumni Columbia University faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Harvard Law School faculty New York University School of Law faculty {{US-legal-academic-bio-stub