About:

Nathaniel Persily is the James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, with appointments in the departments of Political Science, Communication, and FSI.

Professor Persily’s scholarship and legal practice focus on American election law or what is sometimes called the “law of democracy,” which addresses issues such as voting rights, political parties, campaign finance, redistricting, and election administration.

He has served as a special master or court-appointed expert to craft congressional or legislative districting plans for Georgia, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. He also served as the Senior Research Director for the Presidential Commission on Election Administration.

In addition to dozens of articles (many of which have been cited by the Supreme Court) on the legal regulation of political parties, issues surrounding the census and redistricting process, voting rights, and campaign finance reform, Professor Persily is coauthor of the leading election law casebook, The Law of Democracy (Foundation Press, 5th ed., 2016), with Samuel Issacharoff, Pamela Karlan, and Richard Pildes.

He received a B.A. and M.A. in political science from Yale (1992); a J.D. from Stanford (1998) where he was President of the Stanford Law Review, and a Ph.D. in political science from U.C. Berkeley in 2002.

Relevant Writing

• “The 2020 Election Meltdown That Didn’t Happen, Even Amid the Covid Pandemic” by Nathaniel Persily and Charles Stewart III in The Wall Street Journal
• “Trump Is Wrong. There’s No Evidence of Election Fraud in Philadelphia.” by Nathaniel Persily and Charles Stewart III in The New York Times

Relevant Media

• “Trump can declare whatever he wants, but it doesn’t make it so” in the Washington Post
• “How Far Might Trump Go?” in The New York Times
• “President Trump Can’t Sue His Way to a Second Term. Why He Is Trying Anyway” in Time
• “What the Trump campaign’s legal fights could mean for this election and overall public trust” on PBS NewsHour
• “‘A Litigation Arms Race.’ Why The 2020 Election Could Come Down To The Courts” in Time

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