Michael W. McConnell

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Michael W. McConnell (born May 18, 1955 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

1 Education and Career
2 Federal Service
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Education and Career

McConnell graduated from Michigan State University in 1976. McConnell received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979. He was a law clerk for James Skelly Wright, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1979-1980, and for Associate Justice William Brennan, Supreme Court of the United States, 1980-1981. He was an assistant general counsel at the Office of Management and Budget, 1981-1983, and an assistant to the Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice, 1983-1985. He was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, 1985-1996, and then at the University of Utah College of Law, 1997-2002.

A Constitutional originalist, McConnell has contended that originalism is consistent with the Supreme Court's 1955 desegregation decision Brown v. Board of Education, against critics of originalism who argue that they are inconsistent.^[1]^[2]

[edit] Federal Service

He was nominated by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2001, and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on November 15, 2002 by voice vote.

McConnell has been mentioned as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court during the George W. Bush presidency. In June 2005, amid expectations that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist would retire at the end of the Court's term, some sources cited McConnell as a frontrunner for Rehnquist's seat, which ultimately went to John Roberts. [1] Professor Stephen B. Presser of Northwestern University School of Law has argued that "McConnell is high on the White House's short list", because:

[McConnell] does believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far in reading the total separation of church and state into the Constitution, and because he ...understands that Roe v. Wade has no firm constitutional foundation. He might be acceptable to the left not only because so many liberal professors support him, but also because he has been public in his criticism of Bush v. Gore and the impeachment of President Clinton.

However, Democrats may object to McConnell because of his public support for a constitutional amendment banning abortion. [2]

[edit] References

^ Ramesh Ponnuru, "Originalist Sin: Conservatives, the Constitution, and affirmative action," National Review, March 10, 2003
^ Brian C. Anderson, "Why the Battle for the Court Will Be Nasty," City Journal, 2002 Summer, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 64-76.