Nicholas Bagley is an expert in administrative law and health law. In 2020 and 2022, he served as special counsel and then chief legal counsel to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. His academic work has been published widely, including in the Harvard Law Review and the Columbia Law Review, and he contributes frequently to popular outlets, including The New York Times and The Atlantic.

Before joining Michigan Law, Bagley was an attorney with the appellate staff in the Civil Division at the US Department of Justice, where he argued a dozen cases before the US Courts of Appeals and acted as lead counsel in many more. 

Before entering law school, he joined Teach For America and taught eighth-grade English at a public school in New York City. 

Related Information

Areas of Interest

Education
  • Yale University, BA, English
  • New York University School of Law, JD, summa cum laude

    • Clerkships

    • US Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens
    • US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Hon. David S. Tatel

    Featured Scholarship

    Why We Can't Have Nice Things: How Legal Reformers Accidentally Broke America

    "Abundance and the Supreme Court"

    Supreme Court Review

    WWW

    "The State Capacity Crisis"

    Boston College Law Review

    MLaw Repository SSRN WWW

    "Preventive Care at the Supreme Court"

    The New England Journal of Medicine

    WWW
    See All Scholarship

    News

    Alumni News
    Winter 2025

    Q&A: Bagley and Klass on Abundance

    Supreme Court of the United States
    News

    5Qs: Bagley on Supreme Court Limits on Environmental Review

    Former Federal Judge David S. Tatel and Professor Nicholas Bagley speaking during a Michigan Law School lecture.
    News

    Former Federal Judge David S. Tatel Reflects on his Disability and the Current State of the Judiciary

    Nick Bagley giving a lecture to Michigan Law students.
    News

    Bagley Elected to Membership in American Law Institute

    Supreme Court
    News

    SCOTUS Cites Michigan Law Faculty in 2024 Opinions

    Nicholas Bagley
    News

    5Qs: Bagley on Ohio v. EPA, SCOTUS Citation, and the Future of the Administrative State

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    In the Media

    The New York Times

    States Sue Trump Administration Over Medicaid Work Requirements

    The Atlantic

    The Blue-State Delusion Over Unions

    Politico

    Pharma’s legal assault on Medicare negotiations hits a SCOTUS wall

    The Argument

    Democrats should fire bad teachers and bad cops

    The New York Times

    What We Got Right, and Wrong, in 'Abundance'

    Mother Jones

    Clarence Thomas’ Radical Remarks Might Not Be What They Seemed

    See All