Richard Pildes
Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law
Richard Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and one of the nation's leading authorities on democracy, elections, and the separation of powers. He clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Carnegie Scholar, and was appointed by President Biden to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. He has successfully argued voting rights and election law cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Teaching Style
Professor Pildes is a masterful Socratic teacher who uses cold calls to guide students through the structural dimensions of constitutional law and democratic governance. He asks probing, open-ended questions that require students to think about how institutional design shapes political outcomes. His approach is intellectual and analytical, drawing extensively on political science and empirical data to complement legal doctrine. He expects students to engage with the real-world consequences of constitutional rules.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Understand the structural constitution — Articles I, II, and III — as thoroughly as the Bill of Rights; Pildes focuses heavily on institutional design
- 2Be prepared to discuss how election laws, redistricting rules, and party regulations shape democratic outcomes
- 3Know the major Voting Rights Act cases and the evolution of the Court's approach to political gerrymandering
- 4Follow current political developments and be ready to connect them to constitutional and statutory frameworks
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School
- B.A., Princeton University
Notable Publications
- The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process (casebook, with Issacharoff and Karlan)
- Why the Center Does Not Hold: The Causes of Hyperpolarized Democracy in America (California Law Review)
Research Interests
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Constitutional Law, Antidiscrimination Law, Law and Literature
Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Sentencing
Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Election Law, Employment Law
Constitutional Law, Family Law, Criminal Law, Reproductive Rights
Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Federal Courts, Policing
Criminal Law, Racial Justice and the Law, Eighth Amendment, Capital Punishment