Michael Hun Park (born April 1, 1976) is an American lawyer who serves as a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...

Early life and career

Park is a graduate of the

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, TJ, or Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the buil ...

. Park earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

, magna cum laude, from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, and his Juris Doctor from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

in 2001, where he served as managing editor of the '' Yale Law Journal''. After graduating from law school, Park served as a law clerk to then-Judge Samuel Alito of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * East ...

. From 2002 to 2006, he was an associate in the New York City office of

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 thr ...

. Park was an attorney-advisor in the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...

for two years, and then again clerked for Alito during the 2008–2009 term after he became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. There, he was a co-clerk with

Andy Oldham Andrew Stephen Oldham (born 1978) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and former General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Education Oldham graduated from the University of Virg ...

. He was counsel at

Dechert Dechert LLP () is an American multinational law firm of more than 900 lawyers with practices in corporate and securities, complex litigation, finance and real estate, financial services, asset management, and private equity. In 2021, the firm ra ...

from 2009 to 2011 and a partner from 2012 to 2015. From 2015 to 2019, he practiced as a name partner at the boutique litigation firm Consovoy McCarthy Park PLLC. In 2016, Park represented the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in its effort to cut off

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...

funding to Planned Parenthood. Park is an adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School, where he teaches the Supreme Court Clinic. He is also an adjunct professor at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Supreme Court Historical Society, the Board of Directors of Operation Exodus Inner City, and the Asian American Bar Association of New York. Park is a member of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...

Federal judicial service

On October 10, 2018, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

announced his intent to nominate Park to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the

. Park became the second Asian Pacific American and the first Korean American to serve on the Second Circuit. On November 13, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Park to the seat vacated by Judge Gerard E. Lynch, who took

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on September 5, 2016. Park 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 Sullivan; Matthew McGill, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington and Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. On January 23, 2019,

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

announced his intent to renominate Park for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day On February 13, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

. On March 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a party-line 12–10 vote. On May 8, 2019, the U.S. Senate voted to invoke cloture on his nomination by a vote of 51–43. On May 9, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a vote of 52–41. He received his judicial commission on May 13, 2019.

Personal life

Park is married to Sarah Seo, a legal historian and Professor of Law at

References

Select publications

* (posted at Dechert)

External links