Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz (born November 28, 1970) is an American legal scholar. He writes and teaches in the fields of

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

statutory interpretation Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute. Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and a straightforward meani ...

, and

federal jurisdiction Federal jurisdiction is the jurisdiction of the federal government in any country that uses federalism. Such a country is known as a Federation. Federal jurisdiction by country All federations, by definition, must have some form of federal juris ...

. He is the son of billionaire investor and philanthropist Robert Rosenkranz. Rosenkranz clerked for Justice

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Pres ...

and served as an attorney-advisor in the

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that supports the attorney general in their role as legal adviser to the president and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the atto ...

. He regularly contributes legal commentary for news media, including

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

, and other media organizations. His work has been cited by

Supreme Court Justices The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Samuel Alito Supreme Court ...

and

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...

Early life

Rosenkranz is the son of billionaire investor Robert Rosenkranz and Margaret "Peggy" Hill. His father is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. His sister, Stephanie Rosenkranz Hessler, is also a legal scholar and a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

at the

Manhattan Institute The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (renamed in 1981 from the International Center for Economic Policy Studies) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservative think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs.R. Emmett Tyrrell, ...

. Rosenkranz is a graduate of

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

, Yale University (

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

, English, 1992), and

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

(

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

, 1999). At law school, he was also an Olin Fellow in Law and Economics.

Federal government

Judiciary

After graduating law school, Rosenkranz clerked for Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, courts in the following United Stat ...

and for Associate Justice

of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

. Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz was on a list the Trump White House sent to Schumer and Gillibrand in July that included three other names for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where there were two vacancies: The other names were US District Judge Richard J. Sullivan; Matthew McGill, a partner at the law firm

Gibson Dunn Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1890, the firm has more than 1,900 attorneys and 1,000 staff in 21 offices across the world, including North America, Europe, ...

in Washington and Michael H. Park, a partner at the law firm Consovoy McCarthy Park in New York. Rosenkranz has filed numerous

briefs Briefs (or a brief) are a type of short, form-fitting Undergarment, underwear and swimsuit, swimwear, as opposed to styles where material extends down the thighs. Briefs have various different styles, usually with a waistband attached to fabric ...

with, and presented oral arguments before, the Supreme Court. In 2013, the

National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly new ...

featured Rosenkranz's Supreme Court brief that argued that

Missouri v. Holland ''Missouri v. Holland'', 252 U.S. 416 (1920) is a United States Supreme Court case concerning the extent to which international legal obligations are incorporated into federal law under the United States Constitution.. The case centered on the ...

was wrongly decided in Bond v. United States. Eight years prior to Bond v. United States (2013) Rosenkranz had written a similar article in the

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of ...

, ''Executing the Treaty Power,'' arguing that

had been wrongly decided.

Executive branch

From 2002 to 2004 Rosenkranz served as an attorney-advisor at the

in the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

. In 2016 he served as Senior Advisor on Legal Policy and Constitutional Law for candidate

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

during Rubio's 2016 election campaign. He had previously been a member of 2008 presidential candidate

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

's Justice Advisory Committee during the

United States presidential election of 2008 United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior list of United States senators from Illinois, ...

Congressional testimony

Rosenkranz has testified before the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

as a legal expert, including in front of the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

during the confirmation hearings for

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

nominee, and Loretta Lynch, Obama's nominee for

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

. He also testified before the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee of the

House Financial Services Committee The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees ...

, on the constitutionality of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

's bank settlement agreements after the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, and before the

House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, f ...

on issues of a

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

' duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."

Academia

Appointments

Rosenkranz joined the faculty at

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

in 2004. Rosenkranz is a Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

. He is also a co-founder of

Heterodox Academy Heterodox Academy (HxA) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit advocacy group of academics working to counteract what they see as a lack of viewpoint diversity on college campuses, specifically political diversity. The organization was founded in ...

along with

Jonathan Haidt Jonathan David Haidt (; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. Haidt's main areas of study are the psyc ...

, and serves on its executive committee. Rosenkranz has been a National Fellow at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

and a Visiting Professor of Law at

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

Broadway producer

Rosenkranz has produced several Broadway productions, including David Mamet's ''

Speed-the-Plow ''Speed-the-Plow'' is a 1988 play by David Mamet that is a satirical dissection of the American movie business. As stated in ''The Producer's Perspective'', "this is a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films ''Wag the Dog'' (1997) and ''St ...

'', David Mamet's '' Race'', and Tom Stoppard's '' Arcadia''. In 2011, he was nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for the Best Revival of a Play in Arcadia. His mother is Broadway producer, Peggy Hill.

Contributions to scholarly journals

* ''Intellectual Diversity in the Legal Academy'', 37

Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy The ''Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy'' (JLPP) is a law review at Harvard Law School published by an independent student group. It has served as the flagship journal of the Federalist Society. Established by Spencer Abraham and Stephen Eber ...

137–143 (2014)
Intellectual Diversity in the Legal Academy
* ''The Objects of the Constitution'', 63

Stanford Law Review The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produce ...

1005–1069 (2011)
The Objects of the Constitution
* ''The Subjects of the Constitution'', 62

1209–1292 (2010)
The Subjects of the Constitution
* ''An American Amendment'', 32

475–482 (2009)
An American Amendment
* ''Condorcet and the Constitution: A Response to the Law of Other States'', 59

1281–1308 (2007)
Condorcet and the Constitution: A Response to the Law of Other States
* ''Executing the Treaty Power'', 118

1867–1938 (2005)
Executing the Treaty Power
* ''Federal Rules of Statutory Interpretation'', 115

. 2085–2157 (2002)
Federal Rules of Statutory Interpretation

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenkranz, Nicholas Quinn 1970 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers American legal scholars American legal writers Cato Institute people George W. Bush administration personnel Georgetown University Law Center faculty Jewish American academics Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from Washington, D.C. New York (state) lawyers United States Department of Justice lawyers Yale Law School alumni