Stanford Report, May 13, 2009

Federal judge leaves bench for post at Stanford Law School

Michael McConnell, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, will step down from the bench to teach at Stanford Law School and lead the Stanford Constitutional Law Center.

McConnell, who will be the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law, is regarded as one of the nation's top judges and constitutional law scholars. He is best known for his work on freedom of religion.

Prior to his appointment to the bench in 2002 by President Bush, McConnell taught constitutional law at the University of Utah and the University of Chicago. He has twice been a visiting professor at Stanford Law School, where he taught a course called Creation of the Constitution.

McConnell holds a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University's James Madison College and a law degree from the University of Chicago. He served as law clerk to Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and to Justice William J. Brennan of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was an assistant general counsel at the Office of Management of Budget and an assistant to the Solicitor General in the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan.