Samuel Bagenstos

Samuel R. Bagenstos is the Frank G. Millard Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and the Arlene Susan Kohn Professor of Social Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He earned a B.A. with highest honors and highest distinction in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990 and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1993, receiving the Fay Diploma as first in his graduating class and serving as articles office co-chair of the Harvard Law Review. His academic career includes positions as Assistant Professor of Law and Research Fellow at Harvard Law School (1999-2004), Visiting Professor and then Professor of Law at Washington University School of Law (2004-2009, including Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, 2007-2008), and Professor and then Frank G. Millard Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School since 2009. Bagenstos has held prominent government roles, including law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court (1997-1998) and to Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit (1993-1994), attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (1994-1997), Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice (2009-2011), Chair of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (2019-2021), General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (2021-2022), and General Counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services (2022-2024).

Bagenstos specializes in civil rights, labor and employment law, health law, and governance. He authored the books Law and the Contradictions of the Disability Rights Movement (Yale University Press, 2009) and Disability Rights Law: Cases and Materials (Foundation Press, 2010; fourth edition, 2025), as well as co-editing A Nation of Widening Opportunities: The Civil Rights Act at 50 (2015). His articles appear in top journals such as the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Michigan Law Review, including highly cited works like "Subordination, Stigma, and Disability" (Virginia Law Review, 2000, 541 citations), "The Future of Disability Law" (Yale Law Journal, 2004, 376 citations), and "Law and the Contradictions of the Disability Rights Movement" (2009, 389 citations). He has argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including Young v. United Parcel Service (2015) establishing protections for pregnant workers and United States v. Georgia (2006) upholding Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Bagenstos has testified before Congress on the ADA Amendments Act, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and other legislation, presented at numerous symposia, and received the University of Michigan President's Award for Public Impact in 2025.

Professional Email: sbagenst@umich.edu