Karlan earned her B.A. degree in history from Yale University in 1980, as well as an M.A. degree in history and J.D. degree in 1984. At Yale Law School, she served as an article and book reviews editor of the Yale Law Journal. After graduation from law school, Karlan worked as a law clerk for former U.S. District JudgeAbraham David Sofaer of the Southern District of New York from 1984 to 1985. She went on to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court JusticeHarry Blackmun the following year. In a 1995 oral history with Harold Koh, Blackmun revealed that his dissent in Bowers v. Hardwick had been written primarily by Karlan. He said that Karlan "did a lot of very effective writing, and I owe a lot to her and her ability in getting that dissent out. She felt very strongly about it, and I think is correct in her approach to it. I think the dissent is correct."
Career
After her clerkships, Karlan worked as an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1986 to 1988. From 1988 to 1998, Karlan taught law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she won the All-University Outstanding Teaching Award in 1995–96 and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1997. In 1998, Karlan joined the faculty of Stanford Law School. She is the school's Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law. In 2004, Karlan cofounded the Stanford Supreme Court LitigationClinic, through which students litigate live cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2002, Karlan won the school's prestigious John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching. On December 4, 2019, Karlan—alongside law professors Noah Feldman, Michael Gerhardt, and Jonathan Turley—testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment in the Impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. She made a controversial statement delivered during the December 2019, impeachment hearing of President Trump, “Contrary to what President Trump has said, Article 2 does not give him the power to do anything he wants,” testified Pamela Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School. “The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron.” Karlan apologized afterward. Karlan is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and the American Law Institute. On May 6, 2020, Facebook appointed her to its content oversight board.
, a New York Timespolitical writer, described Karlan as "a full-throated, unapologetic liberal torchbearer". Karlan has said that the United States should help Ukraine fight Russia so that the United States does not have to fight Russia on its own territory.
Personal life
Karlan told Politico in 2009, "It's no secret at all that I'm counted among the LGBT crowd". She has described herself as an example of "snarky, bisexual, Jewish women". Her partner is writer Viola Canales.
