{{short description|American legal scholar specializing in election law}} {{Infobox person | name = Nicholas Stephanopoulos | image = 20140218 StephanopoulousStock 0163.a2.jpg | education = Harvard University (BA)<br>Pembroke College, Cambridge (MPhil)<br>Yale University (JD) | title = Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law | spouse = Ruth Greenwood | awards = Politico's "50 List"<br />National Law Journal "Chicago's 40 under 40"<br />Illinois Legal Eagle Award | module = {{Infobox academic | embed = yes | discipline = Election law, Constitutional law | workplaces = {{ubl |University of Chicago Law School |Harvard Law School}}}} }} '''Nicholas Stephanopoulos''' is an American legal scholar who is the Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Nicholas Stephanopoulos |url=https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/nicholas-stephanopoulos/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=Harvard Law School |language=en-us}}</ref> His scholarship primarily focuses on election law, constitutional law, and the interplay between law and democracy.<ref name=":1"/> Recognized as a leading expert in election law, his work has been cited numerous times by the United States Supreme Court.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Allen v. Milligan |url=https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/merrill-v-milligan-2/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=SCOTUSblog |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee |url=https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/brnovich-v-democratic-national-committee/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=SCOTUSblog |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nicholas Stephanopoulos {{!}} C-SPAN.org |url=https://www.c-span.org/person/?99135/NicholasStephanopoulos |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=www.c-span.org}}</ref> He has contributed significantly to the study of partisan gerrymandering and is a co-founder of PlanScore, a platform for evaluating district plans.<ref>{{Cite web |title=PlanScore |url=https://planscore.org/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=planscore.org |language=en}}</ref> He co-invented the efficiency gap, a metric used to measure potential gerrymandering in electoral systems, which quantifies the fairness of districting by calculating wasted votes. He has advocated for the passage of State Voting Rights Acts.

In October 2022, Stephanopoulos was elected to the American Law Institute.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Institute |first=The American Law |title=Members Elected October 2022 |url=https://www.ali.org/members/newly-elected-members/october-2022/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=American Law Institute |language=en}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Stephanopoulos earned his AB in Government from Harvard College, graduating ''summa cum laude''. He then obtained an M.Phil. in European Studies from University of Cambridge, followed by a JD from Yale Law School, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of International Law.

== Legal career == Before his current position at Harvard, Stephanopoulos was a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. He has also been an Associate-in-Law at Columbia Law School and worked as an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Jenner & Block LLP. Early in his career, he clerked for Judge Raymond C. Fisher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.<ref name=":1" />

Stephanopoulos has contributed to ''The New York Times'', ''Washington Post'', ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Chicago Tribune'', ''The Atlantic'', ''The New Republic'', ''Slate'', and Vox.

He has played a significant role in several high-profile litigation efforts, including the Supreme Court case ''Gill v. Whitford''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-03 |title=A "view" from the courtroom: A big windup on partisan gerrymandering |url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2017/10/view-courtroom-big-windup-partisan-gerrymandering/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=SCOTUSblog |language=en-US}}</ref> In the 2023 case ''Allen v. Milligan'', the Supreme Court's decision heavily relied on an amicus brief submitted by the Election Law Clinic, representing Stephanopoulos and other scholars.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=July 18, 2022 |title=Brief of Amici Curiae Professors Jowei Chen, Christopher S. Elmendorf, Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, and Christopher S. Warshaw in Support of Appellees/Respondents |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1086/230239/20220718132621523_91539%20HARVARD%20BRIEF%20PROOF3.pdf |access-date=April 17, 2024 |website=Supreme Court of the United States}}</ref> This brief was cited several times in the Court's opinion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Allen v. Milligan, No. 21-1086, Slip Opinion |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf |access-date=April 17, 2024 |publisher=Supreme Court of the United States}}</ref> It provided empirical evidence about the effectiveness of Section 2 of the VRA and highlighted the potential consequences of undermining this provision, which aims to protect the electoral opportunities for communities of color.<ref name=":0" />

== Selected publications ==

* {{Cite journal |last=Stephanopoulos |first=Nicholas |date=2019 |title=Disparate Impact, Unified Law |url=https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/Stephanopoulos_3rua1o85.pdf |journal=Yale Law Journal |volume=128 |pages=1566}} * {{Cite journal |last=Stephanopoulos |first=Nicholas |date=2016 |title=Race, Place, and Power |url=http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/06/4_-_Stephanopoulos_-_Stan._L._Rev.pdf |journal=Stanford Law Review |volume=68 |pages=1323}} * {{Cite journal |last1=Stephanopoulos |first1=Nicholas |last2=McGhee |first2=Eric |date=2015 |title=Partisan Gerrymandering and the Efficiency Gap |url=https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclrev/vol82/iss2/4 |journal=University of Chicago Law Review |volume=82 |pages=831}}

== References == <references />

== External links ==

* [http://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/nicholas-stephanopoulos/ Faculty Profile at Harvard Law School] * [https://www.planscore.org/about/ PlanScore Profile]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephanopoulos, Nicholas}} Category:Living people Category:American legal scholars Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Category:Yale Law School alumni Category:Harvard Law School faculty Category:University of Chicago Law School faculty Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:NIH Director's New Innovator Award recipients