John Manning
Manning in 2009
Provost ofHarvard University
Incumbent
Assumed office March 14, 2024
Preceded by	Alan Garber
13thDean of Harvard Law School
In office July 1, 2017 – August 15, 2024 On leave: March 14, 2024 – August 15, 2024
Preceded by	Martha Minow
Succeeded by	John C. P. Goldberg
Personal details
Born	(1961-04-11)April 11, 1961 (age 64) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (BA,JD)

John Francis Manning (born April 11, 1961) is an Americanlegal scholar who serves as theprovost ofHarvard University. He is the Dane Professor of Law atHarvard Law School (HLS), where he is a scholar of administrative andconstitutional law.^[1] From 2017 to 2024, he was the 13thdean of Harvard Law School.

Manning received his undergraduate and legal education atHarvard University. After clerking for JudgeRobert Bork and JusticeAntonin Scalia, he was named the Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law atColumbia University. Manning moved to Harvard Law in 2002, becoming its deputy-dean, and assumed the deanship on July 1, 2017, succeedingMartha Minow.

Manning was born on April 11, 1961, inLos Angeles, California.^[2] He isJewish.^[3] He matriculated atHarvard College, where he was a resident ofQuincy House,^[4] as a history major. He graduated with aBachelor of Arts,summa cum laude, in 1982 with membership inPhi Beta Kappa.^[5][6] He was thefirst member of his family to graduate from college.^[3]

Manning attendedHarvard Law School afterwards, graduating in 1985 and obtaining hisJuris Doctor,magna cum laude.^[7] Following law school, he served as alaw clerk to JudgeRobert Bork at theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1985 to 1986.^[8][9]

From 1986 to 1988, Manning was anattorney-advisor at theOffice of Legal Counsel of theU.S. Department of Justice. He left to clerk for JusticeAntonin Scalia at theSupreme Court of the United States during the 1988–1989 term.^[8][10] He wasadmitted to the bar ofPennsylvania in 1986, and to the bar of California in 1990.^[2]

In 1989, Manning became anassociate attorney at the law firm ofGibson Dunn inWashington, D.C. He left the firm to serve as an assistant to theSolicitor General of the United States at the Justice Department from 1991 until 1994,^[11] when he began teaching atColumbia Law School, becoming the school's Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law.^[12]

Manning became a visiting professor at Harvard Law School in 2002, and was named a professor there in 2004.^[13] He was invited to join the law school by deanElena Kagan as part of an effort to increase conservative members of the faculty.^[9] Manning's hiring came among a new series of public legal scholars, also includingJack Goldsmith andAdrian Vermeule.^[14] He received the school's appointment as its Bruce Bromley Professor of Law in 2007 and remained in that capacity until 2017.^[12] In 2013, he became the deputy-dean of Harvard Law School.^[9] After theUniversity of Arizona'sJames E. Rogers College of Law began acceptingGraduate Record Examinations (GRE) results for student admission in 2016, Manning influenced Harvard Law's decision to also accept the GRE for admission, which the school announced in March 2017.^[10]

Martha Minow, the 12th dean of HLS, announced her intention to retire from the deanship on January 5, 2017, at the end of the academic year.^[15][16] After a selection process conducted by Harvard presidentDrew Gilpin Faust and a faculty committee, it was announced on June 1, 2017, that Manning would serve as the nextDean of Harvard Law School.^[4] He assumed the position on July 1, 2017.^[17] His appointment to the role as Minow's successor was praised by former deanElena Kagan, who had become anassociate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.^[10] It was also endorsed byDanielle Allen, director of theEdmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, and JudgeDavid J. Barron of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.^[18]Affinity groups on campus had opposed Manning's appointment, and they instead supportedDavid B. Wilkins.^[9][19]

Manning is an authority in administrative law and structuralconstitutional law,^[10] and has argued nine cases before the Supreme Court.^[10] Manning is also an expert on issues concerningseparation of powers.^[20] He teaches administrative law, federal courts, legislation and regulation, separation of powers, and statutory interpretation.^[12] He was the co-editor of two notable casebooks:Hart and Wechsler’s Federal Courts and the Federal System^[a] as well asLegislation and Regulation.^[18][b] Manning's scholarship persuaded Justice Antonin Scalia to reconsider his majority opinion inAuer v. Robbins (1997).^[21]

Manning was considered as a possible candidate by theHarvard Corporation to bePresident of Harvard University, though ultimately the position went toClaudine Gay instead.^[22][23] On March 1, 2024, Harvard interim presidentAlan Garber announced that Manning would serve as the university's interim provost beginning on March 14, withJohn C. P. Goldberg taking Manning's place as acting dean.^[24] On August 15, Manning was appointed as the permanent university provost, formally resigning as the HLS dean.^[25]

Manning has received theAmerican Bar Association's Award for Scholarship in Administrative Law, and won twice the Willis Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching ofColumbia University.^[18] On April 30, 2013, Manning was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[26] He was elected as a member of theAmerican Law Institute on August 1, 2018.^[12]

• Manning, John F. (April 1996). "Constitutional Structure and Judicial Deference to Agency Interpretations of Agency Rules".Columbia Law Review.96 (3):612–696.doi:10.2307/1123259.JSTOR 1123259.SSRN 2849555.
• Manning, John F. (April 1997). "Textualism As a Nondelegation Doctrine".Columbia Law Review.97 (3):673–739.doi:10.2307/1123360.JSTOR 1123360.SSRN 2849460.
• Manning, John F. (2000). "The Nondelegation Doctrine as a Canon of Avoidance".The Supreme Court Review.2000.University of Chicago Press:223–277.doi:10.1086/scr.2000.3109680.JSTOR 3109680.S2CID 146859299.SSRN 2852573.
• Manning, John F. (January 2001). "Textualism and the Equity of the Statute".Columbia Law Review.101 (1):1–127.doi:10.2307/1123509.JSTOR 1123509.SSRN 2849561.
• Manning, John F. (June 2003). "The Absurdity Doctrine".Harvard Law Review.116 (8):2387–2486.doi:10.2307/1342768.JSTOR 1342768.SSRN 2849578.
• Manning, John F. (June 2004)."The Eleventh Amendment and the Reading of Precise Constitutional Texts".The Yale Law Journal.113 (8):1663–1750.doi:10.2307/4135780.JSTOR 4135780.SSRN 2852571.
• Manning, John F. (June 2004). "Nonlegislative Rules".George Washington Law Review.72 (5):893–945.doi:10.2139/ssrn.2852017.SSRN 2852017.
• Manning, John F. (2004)."Continuity and the Legislative Design".Notre Dame Law Review.79 (5):1863–1889.
• Manning, John F. (April 2005)."Textualism and Legislative Intent".Virginia Law Review.91 (2):419–450.JSTOR 3649428.SSRN 2853690.
• Manning, John F. (January 2006). "What Divides Textualists from Purposivists?".Columbia Law Review.106 (1):70–111.JSTOR 4099461.SSRN 2849247.
• Manning, John F. (2006). "Competing Presumptions About Statutory Coherence".Fordham Law Review.74.SSRN 2854518.
• Manning, John F. (June 2009)."Federalism and the Generality Problem in Constitutional Interpretation".Harvard Law Review.122 (8):2003–2069.JSTOR 40379785.SSRN 2849593.

• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 9)

• Harvard Faculty Bio
• Page at the Federalist Society
• Page at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
• John F. Manning, videos at C-SPAN.
• Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court from theOyez Project

• 1961 births
• Living people
• Harvard College alumni
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Columbia Law School faculty
• Harvard Law School faculty
• American lawyers
• American legal writers
• Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Massachusetts Republicans
• American scholars of constitutional law
• Deans of Harvard Law School

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• Use mdy dates from March 2024