Steven Menashi

Steven James Menashi (born January 15, 1979)[2] is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Steven J. Menashi
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Assumed office
November 14, 2019
Appointed byDonald Trump
Preceded byDennis Jacobs
General Counsel of the United States Department of Education
Acting
In office
May 24, 2017 – April 23, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJames Cole Jr.
Succeeded byCarlos G. Muñiz
Personal details
Born (1979-01-15) January 15, 1979
White Plains, New York, U.S.[1]
EducationDartmouth College (AB)
Stanford Law School (JD)

Early life

Menashi's grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Iraq and Ukraine and his maternal grandfather's relatives who stayed in Europe were murdered in the Holocaust.[3][4]

Education and career

Menashi earned a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College, graduating in 2001. He then worked at the Hoover Institute for three years as a public affairs fellow and an associate editor of the institute's Policy Review. From 2004 to 2005 he was an editorial writer for The New York Sun.[5]

Menashi returned to school in the fall of 2005 at Stanford Law School, where he served as Senior Articles Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He graduated in 2008 with a Juris Doctor and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.[6]

Menashi served as a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit during the 2008–2009 term, and to Associate Justice Samuel Alito of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 2010–2011 term.[7] In between, he was an Olin-Searle Fellow, a program offered by the Federalist Society, at Georgetown University Law Center.[8]

From 2011 to 2016, Menashi worked in the New York City office of Kirkland & Ellis, where he became a partner. While at Kirkland & Ellis, Menashi was a Research Fellow at the New York University School of Law and the Opperman Institute for Judicial Administration for three years, from 2013 to 2016.[9]

From 2016 to 2017, Menashi was an assistant professor of law at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, where he focused on administrative law and civil procedure.[10] He took a leave of absence beginning in 2017, to become the deputy general counsel for postsecondary service at the United States Department of Education, and to serve as general counsel on an acting basis for that department as of May 24.[11] At the Department of Education, Menashi helped devise a plan by the Department of Education to deny debt relief for thousands of students who were cheated by for-profit colleges. The plan, which used students' private Social Security data, was ruled illegal by a federal judge.[12] His role as acting general counsel ended on April 23, 2018, after Carlos G. Muñiz was confirmed to that position by the U.S. Senate.[13]

In September 2018, Menashi moved to the White House to become a Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President.[14]

Federal judicial service

On August 14, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Menashi to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.[10][15][16] On September 9, 2019, his nomination was sent to the Senate. That same day, the American Bar Association rated Menashi as "well qualified," its highest rating.[17] He has been nominated to the seat vacated by Dennis Jacobs, who took senior status on May 31, 2019.[18]

On September 11, 2019, a hearing on Menashi's nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[19] During his hearing, Menashi was criticized by senators from both parties for refusing to answer their questions regarding the role he played in shaping the Trump administration's immigration policies.[20][21] He was also questioned about an article he had written in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law about ethnonationalism and Israel.[22] On November 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a party-line vote of 12–10.[23] On November 13, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture by a vote of 51–44.[24] On November 14, 2019, the Senate confirmed his nomination by a vote of 51–41.[25] He received his judicial commission the same day.

Writings

Menashi is the author of a number of articles and other materials:

  • The Undead Constitution, Policy Review, October–November 2009[26]
  • Nondelegation and the Unitary Executive, (with Douglas H. Ginsburg) University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, February 2010[27]
  • Jews and Money, Commentary, February 2010[28]
  • Toward a ‘More Enlightened and Tolerant View’: Educational Choice and the Regulation of Religious Institutions NYU Annual Survey of American Law, 22 September 2010[29]
  • Ethnonationalism and Liberal Democracy, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, November 2010[30]
  • Cain as His Brother's Keeper: Property Rights and Christian Doctrine in Locke's Two Treatises of Government, Seton Law Review, March 28, 2011[31]
  • Article III as a Constitutional Compromise: Modern Textualism and State Sovereign Immunity, Notre Dame Law Review, February 22, 2012[32]
  • Rational Basis With Economic Bite, (with Douglas H. Ginsburg) NYU Journal of Law & Liberty & George Mason Law & Economics Research Paper, November 12, 2014[33]
  • How Great Is the Threat to Religious Freedom, Really? Mosaic Magazine, 17 August 2015[34]
  • Our Illiberal Administrative Law, (with Douglas H. Ginsburg) NYU Journal of Law & Liberty & George Mason Legal Studies Research Paper, January 2017[35]

See also

References
  1. "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Steven Menashi" (PDF). U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  2. Voruganti, Harsh (September 11, 2019). "Steven Menashi – Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit". The Vetting Room. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  3. Daly, Matthew (September 11, 2019). "Senators blast Trump judicial nominee for silence at hearing". AP NEWS.
  4. Blitzer, Ronn (September 11, 2019). "Trump court pick whose family fled persecution blasts racism accusation as 'hurtful' during confirmation hearing". Fox News.
  5. Voruganti, Harsh (September 11, 2019). "Steven Menashi – Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit". The Vetting Room. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  6. Severino, Carrie (September 10, 2019). "Who is Steven Menashi?". National Review. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  7. Lat, David (April 10, 2010). "Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Meet Justice Thomas's Clerks". Above the Law. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  8. "Steven Menashi Senate Questionaire" (PDF).
  9. "Latest 2nd Circ. Pick Is Trump Aide, Ex-Kirkland Partner". Law 360. August 14, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  10. Ryan, Tim (August 14, 2019). "Trump Names Picks for Second Circuit, Five Other Courts". Courthouse News. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  11. Kreighbaum, Andrew (June 1, 2017). "Department of Education Announces More Hires". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  12. Green, Erica L. (November 6, 2019). "Appeals Court Nominee Shaped DeVos's Illegal Loan Forgiveness Effort". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  13. Crews, Joanna (April 19, 2018). "Carlos Muniz Confirmed as Education Department General Counsel". Executive Gov. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  14. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Appointments for the Executive Office of the President". The White House. September 6, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  15. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees, United States Attorney Nominees, and United States Marshal Nominees". whitehouse.gov. August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  16. Holland, Jake (August 14, 2019). "Trump to Tap White House Aide for N.Y.-Based Appeals Court (2)". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  17. Hubbard, William C. (September 9, 2019). "ABA Chair rating letter to Graham and Feinstein re nomination of Steven J. Menashi to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit" (PDF). Ethics and Public Policy Center.
  18. "Seventeen Nominations and Two Withdrawals Sent to the Senate". The White House.
  19. "Nominations | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary". www.judiciary.senate.gov.
  20. Zilbermints, Regina (September 11, 2019). "Trump court pick sparks frustration for refusing to answer questions". TheHill. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  21. Levine, Marianne. "Republicans and Democrats hammer Trump's judicial nominee". POLITICO. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  22. Kaczynski, Andrew. "Trump court nominee says he regrets if past writings were 'overheated or extreme'". CNN. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  23. "Results of Executive Business – November 7, 2019, Senate Judiciary Committee" (PDF).
  24. "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Steven J. Menashi to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit)". United States Senate. November 13, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  25. "On the Nomination (Confirmation Steven J. Menashi to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit)". United States Senate. November 14, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  26. Menashi, Steven (2009). "The Undead Constitution". SSRN. SSRN 1567820. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  27. Ginsburg, Douglas; Menashi, Steven (February 2010). "Nondelegation and the Unitary Executive". University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law. Penn Law. 12 (2): 251. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  28. Menashi, Steven (April 20, 2010). "Jews and Money". SSRN. SSRN 1592575. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  29. Menashi, Steven (2010). "Toward a 'More Enlightened and Tolerant View': Educational Choice and the Regulation of Religious Institutions". SSRN. SSRN 1592586. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  30. "Ethnonationalism and Liberal Democracy". Legal Scholarship Repository. Penn Law. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  31. Menashi, Steven (March 28, 2011). "Cain as His Brother's Keeper". SSRN. SSRN 1792700. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  32. Menashi, Steven (2007). "Article III as a Constitutional Compromise: Modern Textualism and State Sovereign Immunity". SSRN. SSRN 1567817. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  33. Ginsburg, Douglas H.; Menashi, Steven (2014). "Rational Basis With Economic Bite". SSRN. SSRN 2522496. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  34. Menashi, Steven (2015). "How Great Is the Threat to Religious Freedom, Really?". SSRN. SSRN 2673718. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  35. Menashi, Steven; Ginsburg, Douglas H. (2016). "Our Illiberal Administrative Law". SSRN. SSRN 2885012. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Legal offices
Preceded by
Dennis Jacobs		 Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
2019–present		 Incumbent
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