Kannon Shanmugam
Kannon Shanmugam | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Lawrence, Kansas, U.S. | November 15, 1972
Alma mater | Harvard University (A.B., J.D.) Keble College, Oxford (M.A.) |
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Kannon Shanmugam (born November 15, 1972) is a partner at the law firm of Williams & Connolly, focusing on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. He has argued 18 cases before the Supreme Court, recently breaking the record set by Edward Bennett Williams for the most Supreme Court arguments by a lawyer in the firm's history.[1] Shanmugam is perhaps best known for representing the defendant in Maryland v. King, a case on the constitutionality of DNA testing of arrestees.[2]
Shanmugam joined Williams & Connolly on October 6, 2008, and is the only lawyer to have joined the firm as a lateral partner in the last 30 years.[3] He previously served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. Before joining the Office of the Solicitor General, he was an associate at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. He served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court and Judge J. Michael Luttig on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Shanmugam has been mentioned as a potential Supreme Court nominee in a future Republican administration.[4] National Public Radio mentioned Shanmugam as a potential compromise nominee by President Barack Obama for the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia, for whom he clerked,[5] but the idea was discounted due to Shanmugam’s ties to Republican politics.[6]
Education
Shanmugam grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, and was co-valedictorian of his class at Lawrence High School. He went to Harvard at age 16, where he majored in classics and graduated summa cum laude. After being selected as a Marshall Scholar, he obtained a master’s degree in classics from the University of Oxford. He then returned to Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude in 1998. While at Harvard, he served as executive editor of the Harvard Law Review and argued the case for the winning side in the Ames Moot Court Competition.[7]
See also
References
- ^ National Law Journal: Milestones Ahead for Members of Supreme Court Bar
- ^ New York Times: Justices Wrestle Over Allowing DNA Sampling at Time of Arrest
- ^ AmLaw Daily: Williams & Connolly Ends 22-Year Lateral Partner Ban
- ^ Think Progress: The Real Reason Why All The People Trump Wants To Put On The Supreme Court Are White
- ^ National Public Radio: Obama to Nominate a Candidate to Fill Scalia's Empty Chair
- ^ KCTV News: High Marks for Kansas Native Who Could Replace Scalia on Supreme Court
- ^ Topeka Capital-Journal: 2006 Distinguished Kansans