Prior to joining the University of North Carolina Law School faculty in the summer of 2005, Michael Gerhardt taught for more than a decade at William & Mary Law School. He is the author of several books, including The Power of Precedent (Oxford University Press, 2008), and the second editions of The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis (University of Chicago Press 2000) and The Federal Appointments Process (Duke University Press 2003).
He is the co-author of each of the three editions of a reader on constitutional theory, and has written more than fifty law review publications on a diverse range of topics in constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, and the legislative process. He has consulted with members of Congress on a number of constitutional issues, and has testified several times before Congress, including as the only joint witness in the House Judiciary Committee's special hearing on the history of the federal impeachment process held in conjunction with its consideration of the impeachment of President Clinton. In 2003 and 2005, he defended the constitutionality of the filibuster before the Senate Rules and Judiciary Committees; and he testified before the House Judiciary Committee in opposition to several proposed court-stripping measures. In addition, he served as a special consultant to the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal, to the Presidential Transition in 1992-93, to the White House on the nomination of Stephen Breyer to the United States Supreme Court, and to the ethics committees of two hospitals. In January 2006, Gerhardt testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Samuel Alito Jr., as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. In the Summer of 2009, Professor Gerhardt served as Special Counsel to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and the Senate Judiciary Committee for the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. In December 2009, Professor Gerhardt testified before the House Judiciary Committee as one of three experts on the question of whether a federal judge may be impeached for misconduct committed prior to becoming a federal judge.
Gerhardt's honors include distinguished lectures at Princeton University and William & Mary, Drake, Creighton, Cleveland State, and University of Montana Law Schools. In 2004, he was a visiting fellow in the James Madison Program in American Institutions and Ideals at Princeton University. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell and Duke Law Schools. Gerhardt frequently participates in workshops and colloquia around the country, and he is often interviewed as an expert on constitutional law by network and cable television, major newspapers, and National Public Radio. He was CNN's full-time impeachment expert during President Clinton's impeachment proceedings. At UNC Law School, Professor Gerhardt will teach classes on bioethics, constitutional law, First Amendment, the legislative process, and Congress and the Presidency.
Gerhardt maintains a relationship with the Institute of Bill of Rights at William & Mary Law School as a research fellow. He is currently working on a book entitled The Constitutional Significance of the Forgotten Presidents, which Yale University Press will publish. He received his B.A. from Yale University, his M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.