David H. Gans

Director of the Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Citizenship Program

David is Director of the Human Rights, Civil Rights & Citizenship Program at CAC. He is an experienced constitutional litigator and scholar.

David is the co-author of Religious Liberties for Corporations?: Hobby Lobby, the Affordable Care Act, and the Constitution (Palgrave MacMillan, 2014), as well as the lead author of CAC’s Text and History Narrative Series, including, most recently, The Keystone of the Arch: The Text and History of Article III and the Constitution’s Promise of Access to Courts. His academic writings have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Boston University Law Review, the Emory Law Journal, the George Washington Law Review, and the John Marshall Law Review. David has also written commentary for the L.A. Times, USA Today, the New Republic and Slate, as well as numerous legal blogs, including Scotusblog, Balkinization, and ACS Blog.

David joined CAC after serving as Program Director of Cardozo Law School’s Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy, and as an attorney with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, where he worked with Burt Neuborne on campaign finance and voting rights cases. Previously, David was an Acting Assistant Professor at NYU School of Law and practiced law at Emery Cuti Brinckerhoff & Abady, PC, where he litigated a wide range of constitutional and civil rights cases. He has also served as an attorney fellow for the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy and as a law clerk for the Hon. Rosemary Barkett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

David is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he served as an editor on the Yale Law Review. Before receiving his law degree, David worked as a paralegal for the American Civil Liberties Union, where he helped Kathryn Kolbert prepare the briefs and argument in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In 1993, David and Ms. Kolbert co-authored an article in the Temple Law Review titled “Responding to Planned Parenthood v. Casey: Establishing Neutrality Principles in State Constitutional Law.”

David received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University.