Michael H. Park


Michael Hun Park is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Early life and career

Park is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Park earned his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, and his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2001, where he served as managing editor of the Yale Law Journal. After graduating from law school, Park served as a law clerk to then-Judge Samuel Alito of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. From 2002–2006, he was an associate in the New York City office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Park was an attorney-advisor in the United States Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel for two years, and then again clerked for Alito during the 2008–2009 term after he became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. There, he was a co-clerk with Andy Oldham. He was counsel at Dechert from 2009–2011 and a partner from 2012–2015. From 2015–2019, he practiced as a name partner at the boutique litigation firm Consovoy McCarthy Park PLLC.
In 2016, Park represented the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in its effort to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.
Park is an adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School, where he teaches the Supreme Court Clinic.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Supreme Court Historical Society, the Board of Directors of Operation Exodus Inner City, and the Asian American Bar Association of New York. Park is a member of the Federalist Society.

Federal judicial service

On October 10, 2018, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Park to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Park became the second Asian Pacific American and the first Korean American to serve on the Second Circuit. On November 13, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Park to the seat vacated by Judge Gerard E. Lynch, who took senior status on September 5, 2016.
On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Park for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day On February 13, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On March 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a party-line 12–10 vote. On May 8, 2019, the U.S. Senate voted to invoke cloture on his nomination by a vote of 51–43. On May 9, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a vote of 52–41. He received his judicial commission on May 13, 2019.

Personal life

Park is married to Sarah Seo. Seo clerked for Judge Denny Chin, then of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and Judge Reena Raggi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He and his wife are Korean Americans.

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