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Michael H. Park
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office May 13, 2019
Appointed by	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Gerard E. Lynch
Personal details
Born	Michael Hun Park (1976-04-01) April 1, 1976 (age 48) Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Spouse	Sarah Seo
Education	Princeton University (BA) Yale University (JD)

Michael Hun Park (born April 1, 1976) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito. Prior to becoming a judge, Park was a named partner at Consovoy McCarthy (originally Consovoy McCarthy Park), a prominent law firm in the conservative legal movement. While at the firm, Park represented the state of Kansas in its efforts to cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Judge Park was appointed by President Trump and is a member of the Federalist Society.

Early life and education

Park is a graduate of the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Park earned his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, and his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2001, where he served as managing editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Early career

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. From 2002 to 2006, he was an associate in the New York City office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. Park was an attorney-advisor in the United States Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel 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. He was counsel at Dechert 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 funding to Planned Parenthood. In 2017, Park led efforts to challenge an EPA rule under the Clean Water Act that sought to expand the statute's protection of wetlands. In 2018, Park worked on behalf of Project on Fair Representation to defend the Trump Administration's efforts to insert a citizenship question into the 2020 U.S. Census.

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.

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.

Federal judicial service

On October 10, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Park to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 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 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. On January 23, 2019, President Trump 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.

Park's nomination was objected to by the two Democratic Senators from his home state, who refused to return a "blue slip" for his nomination. 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 Columbia Law School.

See also

• List of Asian American jurists
• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 8)

References

1. Voruganti, Harsh (March 6, 2019). "Michael Park – Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit". The Vetting Room. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
2. "Michael H. Park". United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
3. "Hon. Michael Park". The Federalist Society. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
4. "Planned Parenthood of Kansas v. Andersen, 882 F. 3d 1205 - Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit 2018". scholar.google.com. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
5. "Nomination of Michael H. Park to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Questions for the Record" (PDF). judiciary.senate.gov. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
6. Korea Times
7. "Masthead-Board of editors". Yale Law Journal. 2000–2001. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
8. "Opinions of the Office of Legal Counsel, Vol 32, 2008". United States Department of Justice. 2014. p. iv. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
9. Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States before the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate. Diane Publishing. 2006. p. 1026. ISBN 9781422332429. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
10. "Press release: Dechert's Michael H. Park Named Among 'Best Lawyers Under 40' by National Asian Pacific American Bar Association" (PDF). Dechert. November 19, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
11. Lat, David (May 28, 2015). "Prominent Young Partners Leave Biglaw For A High-Powered Boutique". Above The Law. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
12. "AABANY in the News". Asian American Bar Association of New York. 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
13. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Eighteenth Wave of Judicial Nominees, Eighteenth Wave of United States Attorney Nominees, and Thirteenth Wave of United States Marshal Nominees". whitehouse.gov. October 10, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018 – via National Archives. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
14. Margolies, Dan (June 12, 2016). "Kansas Retains High-Powered Law Firm In Planned Parenthood Battle". Junction City Post. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
15. "Brief for the Chamber of Commerce" (PDF). scotusblog.com. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
16. "MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF PROJECT ON FAIR REPRESENTATION IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS" (PDF). Brennan Center: Copy of Filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
17. "Legal Clinic – Supreme Court". Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
18. "Michael Park". Columbia Law School. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
19. "Michael H. Park bio". The Federalist Society. September 17, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
20. Tae-hee, Lee (December 11, 2018). "Korean-American judges gaining presence in US". The Korea Herald. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
21. "Twenty Six Nominations Sent to the Senate", White House, November 13, 2018
22. "The White House Has Pitched a Nominee for Manhattan's Powerful US Attorney Opening". BuzzFeed News. August 7, 2017.
23. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees", White House, January 23, 2019
24. "Nominations Sent to the Senate", White House, January 23, 2019
25. United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Nominations for February 13, 2019
26. "Judges Confirmed to Second Circuit Despite 'Blue Slip' Objections". leadershipconnect.io. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
27. Results of Executive Business Meeting – March 7, 2019, Senate Judiciary Committee
28. "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 1st Session".
29. "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 1st Session".
30. Michael H. Park at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
31. AABANY blog
32. "Sarah A. Seo". Columbia Law School.

Select publications

• Park, Michael H. (September 8, 2014). "Court's 'No-Action' Clause Holding May Surprise Bond Issuers" (PDF). New York Law Journal. (posted at Dechert)

External links

• Michael H. Park at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Michael Park at Ballotpedia
• Bio, National Review

• 1976 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American lawyers
• 21st-century American judges
• American academics of Korean descent
• American jurists of Korean descent
• Antonin Scalia Law School faculty
• Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Lawyers from New York City
• Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
• New York (state) Republicans
• Lawyers from Saint Paul, Minnesota
• Princeton University alumni
• Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology alumni
• United States court of appeals judges appointed by Donald Trump
• United States Department of Justice lawyers
• Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr associates
• Yale Law School alumni