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Michael J. Gerhardt | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 1956 (age 68–69) Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Education | Yale University (BA) London School of Economics (MSc) University of Chicago (JD) |
Michael J. Gerhardt (born 1956) is the Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at theUniversity of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill.[1] He is director of the Center on Law and Government at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and considered an expert onconstitutional law,separation of powers, and the legislative process.[2] He is a Scholar in Residence at theNational Constitution Center and visiting scholar at theUniversity of Pennsylvania Law School.[3]
On December 2, 2019, it was announced that Gerhardt would testify before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment in theimpeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.[4]
Gerhardt was born in 1956 inMadison, Wisconsin, and grew up inMobile, Alabama, where he attended UMS-Wright and was ranked second in the state in junior tennis. He is acum laude graduate ofYale University (B.A., 1978), attended graduate school at theLondon School of Economics (M.Sc., 1979), and graduated from theUniversity of Chicago Law School (J.D., 1982).[5] Gerhardt isJewish.[6]
Gerhardt served as a clerk for Chief JudgeRobert McRae of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee (1982–1983) and JudgeGilbert Merritt of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1983 to 1984.[7] After his clerkships, he served as deputy media director ofAl Gore's Senate campaign.[8] Gerhardt then worked for two law firms in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
Gerhardt joined the UNC law faculty in 2005.[9] Prior to UNC, Gerhardt worked atWake Forest School of Law andWilliam & Mary Law School, served as dean of the Law School atCase Western Reserve, and had been a visiting professor at Duke and Cornell Law Schools. Gerhardt is the author of several books regarding constitutional law and history, includingThe Power of Precedent.[10] His most recent book isThe Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy, published in April 2013 byOxford University Press.[11]
Gerhardt has assisted members of Congress and the White House on a range of various constitutional issues, beginning with drafting the judicial selection policy for thetransition ofBill Clinton into office. Gerhardt then worked with the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal.[12] He has testified several times before theHouse Judiciary Committee, including as the only joint witness in the 1998 hearing on the history of U.S. impeachment, during the consideration of theimpeachment of President Bill Clinton.[13] Also, he was one of only two legal scholars to testify against the constitutionality of theLine Item Veto Act of 1996, which the Supreme Court struck down inClinton v. City of New York.[14]
In 2009, he testified as an expert before the select House committee considering whether to impeach JudgeThomas Porteous.[15] He testified before the Senate regarding the constitutionality offilibustering.[16]
Gerhardt has worked and testified in Senate confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court Justices, beginning in 1994 when he counseled the White House regarding Associate JusticeStephen Breyer's confirmation hearings.[17] In 2005, he consulted with senators on theJohn Roberts nomination as Chief Justice of the United States.[18] Gerhardt then served as a witness in the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on the nomination ofSamuel Alito, to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court.[19]
Along with ProfessorLaurence Tribe ofHarvard Law School, he is the only legal scholar to have been invited to testify in both the 1998 impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and the confirmation hearings for Associate Justice Alito. He also acted as Special Counsel toSenator Patrick Leahy regarding the nominations ofElena Kagan andSonia Sotomayor to theSupreme Court of the United States.[20] In 2012, Gerhardt testified again before theHouse Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.[21]
During the 2021second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Gerhardt served asspecial counsel to the presiding officerPatrick Leahy.[22]
Gerhardt is interviewed frequently by news outlets[23] as an expert on constitutional law and issues.[24]
Gerhardt is married to Deborah Gerhardt, who teaches contracts, copyright, and trademark law at theUniversity of North Carolina School of Law. They have three children together: Benjamin, Daniel, and Noah Gerhardt.[25]
I grew up in Alabama, and I grew up Jewish in Alabama in the 1960s...
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