Ganesh Sitaraman
New York Alumni Chancellor's Chair in Law, Professor of Law
Ganesh Sitaraman holds the New York Alumni Chancellor's Chair in Law at Vanderbilt Law School, where he directs the Program in Law & Government and the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation. He was ranked No. 25 among the Top 100 Legal Scholars of 2025 and is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. He is the author of several influential books on constitutional theory, democracy, and political economy. Before joining Vanderbilt, he was a law clerk, a research fellow in Afghanistan, and served as policy counsel to Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Teaching Style
Professor Sitaraman is a dynamic lecturer who combines Socratic questioning with structured discussion of constitutional theory and its relationship to economic and political structures. He challenges students to think about how law shapes and is shaped by political economy, and his cold calls often push students beyond doctrinal analysis into deeper structural and theoretical territory. His classes are intellectually ambitious, drawing connections across constitutional law, regulatory policy, and democratic theory.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Read beyond the assigned cases to understand the broader political and economic context of constitutional doctrines
- 2Be prepared to engage with structural constitutional arguments, not just individual rights analysis
- 3Think about how constitutional design relates to economic inequality and democratic governance
- 4Familiarize yourself with Professor Sitaraman's books and articles for insight into his analytical framework
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., magna cum laude, Harvard Law School
- M.Litt. in Political Thought, Emmanuel College, Cambridge
- A.B. in Government, magna cum laude, Harvard University
Notable Publications
- The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution (Knopf, 2017)
- Why Flying is Miserable: And How to Fix It (Columbia Global Reports, 2023)
- The Great Democracy: How to Fix Our Politics, Unrig the Economy, and Unite America (Basic Books, 2019)