WASHINGTON – The American Constitution Society, the nation’s premier progressive legal organization, announced today that two nationally-recognized attorneys were elected to the ACS Board of Directors at its June meeting.
The new members are:
· Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School; former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; and
· Christopher Kang, National Director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans; former Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel to President Barack Obama in the Office of the White House Counsel.
“We are privileged to welcome two of the country’s sharpest legal minds to the ACS Board,” said ACS Board Chair Cliff Sloan. “Professor Karlan and Mr. Kang bring a wide range of legal experience to the Board of Directors, as well as a strong commitment to constitutional principles. I look forward to working with them to expand ACS and move the organization forward.”
ACS President Caroline Fredrickson said, “We are thrilled that Pamela Karlan and Christopher Kang will bring their diverse legal experience and expertise to ACS leadership. Pam and Chris also bring with them a deep understanding of the progressive values for which ACS stands, and ACS will be even more effective with their involvement.”
Karlan is the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. One of the nation’s leading experts on voting and the political process, she has served as a commissioner on the California Fair Political Practices Commission, an assistant counsel and cooperating attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (where she received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service – the department’s highest award for employee performance – as part of the team responsible for implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor). Professor Karlan is the co-author of leading casebooks on constitutional law, constitutional litigation, and the law of democracy, as well as numerous scholarly articles. Additional biographical information is available here.
Kang is National Director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans. As National Director, Kang leads the coalition in developing policy and communications strategy and advancing a joint agenda to address the needs of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. Kang most recently served as Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel to President Barack Obama in the Office of the White House Counsel, where he was in charge of the selection, vetting and confirmation of the President’s judicial nominees and advised on commutations and executive clemency. Kang began at the White House in January 2009 as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, and he also held several positions for U.S. Senate Assistant Democratic Leader Richard Durbin. Additional biographical information is available here.
The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS), founded in 2001 and one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations, is a rapidly growing network of lawyers, law students, scholars, judges, policymakers and other concerned individuals dedicated to making the law a force to improve lives of all people. For more information about the organization or to locate one of the more than 200 lawyer and law student chapters in 48 states, please visit www.acslaw.org.