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Trump's latest nominee for a lifetime judgeship is working to end affirmative action at Harvard
When President Donald Trump nominated Michael Park to a seat on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month, the announcement was low key. It noted his work as a part-time law professor and stated simply, “He represents clients in litigation in a wide array of subject areas, including securities, criminal, commercial, administrative, and constitutional law.”
The announcement was deceptive: Park is hardly a generic New York securities lawyer. He is currently involved in one of the most high-profile and controversial lawsuits ever designed to end affirmative action in college admissions. The lawsuit, against Harvard University, alleges that the school discriminates against Asian American applicants. The trial in the case got underway last week. Civil rights activists say that if successful, the suit could result in a steep plunge in the number of black and Latino students admitted to the exclusive university. And if the case goes to the Supreme Court, as its backers seem to hope it will, it could ultimately end the consideration of race in admissions to all universities and colleges and shut out large numbers of minorities from top schools.
Park, who is Asian American, has been involved in the four-year-old case almost from the beginning, since becoming a partner in 2015 at Consovoy McCarthy, a boutique DC law firm founded by a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (When Park joined, it became Consovoy McCarthy Park.) The firm has become the go-to legal shop for conservative ideologues looking to fight everything from voting rights to affirmative action to abortion, particularly at the Supreme Court. It is currently representing President Donald Trump in a lawsuit over allegations that Trump is unconstitutionally taking gifts from foreign countries through his ownership of the Trump International Hotel in Washington and other properties.
Park has been in the middle of many of the firm’s ideological fights. A former clerk for Justice Samuel Alito, both at the Supreme Court and when Alito served on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Park is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, which has been intimately involved in the Trump administration’s judicial nominations. Park worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel when that office was embroiled in controversy over the George W. Bush administration’s use of torture in the “war on terror.” He later spent six years at a New York law firm doing white-collar defense and securities litigation before joining the upstart Consovoy firm as a partner in 2015.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/trump-appeals-court-nominee-is-working-to-end-affirmative-action-at-harvard/
The announcement was deceptive: Park is hardly a generic New York securities lawyer. He is currently involved in one of the most high-profile and controversial lawsuits ever designed to end affirmative action in college admissions. The lawsuit, against Harvard University, alleges that the school discriminates against Asian American applicants. The trial in the case got underway last week. Civil rights activists say that if successful, the suit could result in a steep plunge in the number of black and Latino students admitted to the exclusive university. And if the case goes to the Supreme Court, as its backers seem to hope it will, it could ultimately end the consideration of race in admissions to all universities and colleges and shut out large numbers of minorities from top schools.
Park, who is Asian American, has been involved in the four-year-old case almost from the beginning, since becoming a partner in 2015 at Consovoy McCarthy, a boutique DC law firm founded by a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (When Park joined, it became Consovoy McCarthy Park.) The firm has become the go-to legal shop for conservative ideologues looking to fight everything from voting rights to affirmative action to abortion, particularly at the Supreme Court. It is currently representing President Donald Trump in a lawsuit over allegations that Trump is unconstitutionally taking gifts from foreign countries through his ownership of the Trump International Hotel in Washington and other properties.
Park has been in the middle of many of the firm’s ideological fights. A former clerk for Justice Samuel Alito, both at the Supreme Court and when Alito served on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Park is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, which has been intimately involved in the Trump administration’s judicial nominations. Park worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel when that office was embroiled in controversy over the George W. Bush administration’s use of torture in the “war on terror.” He later spent six years at a New York law firm doing white-collar defense and securities litigation before joining the upstart Consovoy firm as a partner in 2015.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/trump-appeals-court-nominee-is-working-to-end-affirmative-action-at-harvard/
