G.

MICHAEL PARSONS
444 Washington Blvd. Apt. 3551 • Jersey City, NJ 07310 • (301) 785-9839 • michael.parsons@nyu.edu

EDUCATION
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., magna cum laude 2013
Honors: Top 4% of Class; Dean’s List; Highest Exam in International Law
Journal: Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy
Clinic: Federal Legislation & Administrative Clinic
American University Washington College of Law, 1L (Transferred) 2011
Honors: Dean’s Merit Scholarship; Moot Court Honor Society; Alvina Reckman-Myers Moot
Court Quarterfinalist
Davidson College, A.B. (Political Science, Minor in Philosophy), cum laude 2008
Honors: Omicron Delta Kappa; Order of Omega (President; Patrick Halloran Scholarship);
Sigma Phi Epsilon (President; Educational Foundation Scholarship; Tragos Scholarship)
EXPERIENCE
New York University School of Law
Program Affiliate Scholar 2021 – present
Associate Director of Lawyering 2020 – 2021
Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering 2018 – 2021
FairVote
Senior Legal Fellow 2021 – present
Adjunct Fellow 2018 – 2020
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Associate 2016 – 2018
Judge Norman H. Stahl, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Law Clerk 2015 – 2016
Judge Robert E. Payne, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Law Clerk 2014 – 2015
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Associate 2013 – 2014
Summer Associate 2012
Congressman Chris Van Hollen, U.S. House of Representatives, Constituent Services Staff 2008 – 2010
SUBMITTED PUBLICATIONS & WORKS IN PROGRESS
Selective Structuralism (work in progress)
The Principle of Representation (work in progress)
The Legality of Ranked-Choice Voting (with Richard H. Pildes), 109 CALIF. L. REV. ___ (forthcoming 2021)
Fighting for Attention: Democracy, Free Speech, and the Marketplace of Ideas, 104 MINN. L. REV. 2157 (2020)
Gerrymandering & Justiciability: The Political Question Doctrine After Rucho v. Common Cause, 95 IND. L.J. 1295 (2020)
Clearing the Political Thicket: Why Political Gerrymandering for Partisan Advantage is Unconstitutional,
24 WM. & MARY BILL RTS. J. 1107 (2016)
The Future of Federalism: A Uniform Theory of Rights and Powers for the Necessary and Proper Clause,
11 GEO. J.L. & PUB. POL’Y 177 (2013)
INVITED ARTICLES, CHAPTERS, & RESPONSES
Contingent Design & The Court Reform Debate, 23 U. PA. J. CONST. L. ___ (forthcoming 2021)
The Price of Free Elections, 74 VAND. L. REV. EN BANC ___ (forthcoming 2021)
Platforms, Political Advertising, and Attentional Choice, 12 DREXEL L. REV. 765 (2020)
Justice Denied: Equity, Elections, and Remedial Redistricting Rules, 19 J.L. SOC'Y 229 (2019)
Partisan Gerrymandering Under Federal and State Law, in AMERICA VOTES! CHALLENGES TO MODERN ELECTION
LAW & VOTING RIGHTS 277 (Jack Young & Ben Griffith eds., 4th ed. 2019)
G. Michael Parsons Page 2

COMMENTARY & POPULAR MEDIA

Select Online Work
The Peril & Promise of Redistricting Reform in H.R. 1, HARV. L. REV. BLOG, Feb. 2, 2021.
§ Proposals on redistricting-litigation procedures and enforcement structures incorporated into
H.R. 1 Manager’s Amendment and passed by U.S. House of Representatives on March 3, 2021
Rucho’s Antidemocratic Instinct: ‘This is not law.’, ELECTION L. BLOG, July 4, 2019
Parsons Parses Supreme Court Decision to Hear Bethune-Hill II, ELECTION L. BLOG, Nov. 13, 2018
‘Ranked choice voting is the law of Maine’; It’s time for legislators to start appealing to voters, not judges,
VOICES & CHOICES BLOG, Apr. 20, 2018
Raines Check: Legislator Standing and the Separation of Powers, TAKE CARE BLOG, July 10, 2017. Cited by:
§ Vicki C. Jackson, Congressional Standing to Sue: The Role of Courts and Congress in U.S.
Constitutional Democracy, 93 IND. L.J. 845 (2018)
§ Matthew I. Hall, Who has Standing to Sue the President Over Allegedly Unconstitutional
Emoluments?, 95 WASH. U. L. REV. 757 (2017)
Modern Democracy (moderndemocracyblog.com), Author/Publisher
Modern Democracy is a blog that provides commentary and analysis on law, politics, and
government reform. Posts are frequently featured on SCOTUSblog and the Election Law Blog.
Citations to posts include:
§ Perez v. Abbott, 250 F. Supp. 3d 123 (W.D. Tex. 2017) (Smith, J., dissenting)
§ Richard L. Hasen, Resurrection: Cooper v. Harris and the Transformation of Racial
Gerrymandering into a Voting Rights Tool, 1 ACS SUPREME COURT REVIEW 105 (2017)
§ Jacob Eisler, Partisan Gerrymandering and the Constitutionalization of Statistics,
68 EMORY L.J. 979 (2019)
Opinion & Editorials
NYC Mayoral Candidates Should Adjust Strategies for Ranked-Choice, CITY & STATE NEW YORK, May 12, 2021
A Powerful Tool to Take on The Supreme Court — If Democrats Use It Right, THE HILL, Feb. 16, 2021
Ranked Choice Voting is Constitutional, MASS. LAWYERS WEEKLY, Oct. 15, 2020 (with Rick Pildes)
Interviews & Appearances
THE RICK UNGAR SHOW, Feb. 17, 2021 (discussing Supreme Court reform and fallback law)

RESEARCH & TEACHING INTERESTS

Primary: Constitutional Law; Legislation & Interpretation; Election Law; Federal Courts
Secondary: Civil Procedure; Administrative Law; Remedies; Antitrust
PRESENTATIONS & CONFERENCES
Panelist, Ranked Choice Voting Town Hall, GenVote@NYU & The New York University Undergraduate Law
Review (Virtual Event; May 6, 2021).
Presenter, Constitutional Structure and Federalism, American Constitution Society Sixth Annual Constitutional
Law Scholars Forum (Virtual Event; Mar. 26, 2021). Presented Selective Structuralism.
Presenter, Voting Rights & Election Law, Eleventh Annual Loyola Constitutional Law Colloquium (Virtual Event;
Nov. 6, 2020). Presented Selective Structuralism.
Presenter & Panelist, Constitutional Law Outside of the Courts, Symposium, University of Pennsylvania Journal
of Constitutional Law (Virtual Event; Oct. 2, 2020). Presented Gerrymandering & Justiciability.
Presenter & Panelist, Not Your Father’s First Amendment, Symposium, Drexel Law Review (Philadelphia,
PA; Nov. 15, 2019). Presented Fighting for Attention.
G. Michael Parsons Page 3

Panelist, Gerrymandering: The Power of Boundaries, Symposium, The Journal of Law in Society & The Levin
Center at Wayne State University Law School (Detroit, MI; Mar. 22, 2019).
Presenter, First Amendment and Free Speech, American Constitution Society Fourth Annual Constitutional
Law Scholars Forum (Orlando, FL; Mar. 1, 2019). Presented Fighting for Attention.
Panelist, Election Law in the Trump Supreme Court, International Municipal Lawyers Association Mid-Year
Seminar (Washington, DC; Apr. 21, 2018).
SIGNIFICANT CASES & PRO BONO REPRESENTATION
Rucho v. Common Cause, 139 S. Ct. 2484 (2019).
Represented the International Municipal Lawyers Association, National League of Cities, U.S.
Conference of Mayors, and International City/County Management Association pro bono on amicus
brief in support of voter-plaintiffs, arguing that partisan gerrymandering disrupts communities of
interest and that intervention would improve the clarity and administrability of redistricting law.
Blumenthal, et al. v. Trump, 949 F.3d 14 (D.C. Cir. 2019); 335 F. Supp. 3d 45 (D.D.C. 2018).
Represented federal jurisdiction and constitutional law scholars pro bono on amicus briefs in support
of congressional plaintiffs, arguing that Members of Congress have Article III standing to maintain
claims for declaratory and injunctive relief under the Foreign Emoluments Clause.
Patchak v. Zinke, 138 S. Ct. 897 (2018).
Represented Respondent Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians on merits brief,
successfully arguing that separation of powers principles do not prohibit Congress from barring a
pending federal action concerning a parcel of land taken into trust by the federal government.
Gill v. Whitford, 138 S. Ct. 1916 (2018).
Advised OneVirginia2021 pro bono on amicus brief in support of voter-appellees, arguing that
partisan gerrymandering is inconsistent with founding ideals and constitutional principles designed
to promote accountability and representation.
Vesilind v. Va. State Bd. of Elections, 813 S.E.2d 739 (Va. 2018).
Represented a bipartisan group of former Virginia Attorneys General pro bono on amicus brief in
support of voter-petitioners, arguing that the compactness provision of the Virginia Constitution
requires the legislature to make a bona fide effort—objectively justified by contemporaneous facts—
to prioritize compactness above discretionary redistricting criteria.
Harris v. Cooper, 138 S. Ct. 2711 (2018).
Represented OneVirginia2021 pro bono on amicus brief in support of voter-appellants, arguing that
partisan advantage does not constitute a legitimate state interest under the U.S. Constitution.
In re Opinion of the Justices, 162 A.3d 188 (Me. 2017).
Represented FairVote pro bono on interested-party brief, arguing that a citizen initiative to enact
ranked-choice voting for all major state and federal races did not violate the “plurality” or “sort,
count, and declare” provisions of the Maine Constitution.
ACADEMIC SERVICE
Faculty Committee on Bias & Lawyering 2020 – 2021
Faculty Committee on Remote Policies, Pedagogy, and Technology 2020 – 2021
Faculty Committee on Negotiations & Transactions Curriculum 2018 – 2021
AWARDS & ADMISSIONS
Podell Distinguished Teaching Award, New York University School of Law, 2021.
Licensed to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Admitted in the U.S. Supreme Court and
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
 G. MICHAEL PARSONS
444 Washington Blvd. Apt. 3551 • Jersey City, NJ 07310 • (301) 785-9839 • michael.parsons@nyu.edu

REFERENCES
Richard H. Pildes Dakota Rudesill
Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law Associate Professor of Law
New York University School of Law The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Phone: 212.998.6377 Phone: 614.688.2059
Email: rick.pildes@nyu.edu Email: rudesill.2@osu.edu

Andrew W. Williams Tara Leigh Grove

Director, Lawyering Program Charles E. Tweedy, Jr. Endowed Chair of Law
New York University School of Law Director, Program in Constitutional Studies
Phone: 212.998.6044 University of Alabama School of Law
Email: andrew.williams@nyu.edu Phone: 205.348.2302 (o); 703.786.9731 (m)
Email: tgrove@law.ua.edu
Burt Neuborne
Norman Dorsen Professor of Civil Liberties Justin Levitt
Emeritus Professor of Law
New York University School of Law Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Phone: 212.998.6172 Phone: 213.736.7417
Email: burt.neuborne@nyu.edu Email: justin.levitt@lls.edu

Daryl Levinson Joshua Sellers

David Boies Professor of Law Associate Professor of Law
New York University School of Law Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Phone: 212.998.6613 Phone: 480.965.0838
Email: daryl.levinson@nyu.edu Email: joshua.sellers@asu.edu

The Honorable Norman H. Stahl The Honorable Robert E. Payne

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Phone: 781.455.1002 or 508.645.9559 Phone: 804.916.2260