Professor of Law
Education
B.A., 1985, Brown University
J.D., 1989, City University of New York
LL.M., 1994, Harvard University
Areas of Expertise
Bio
Professor Adams’ research centers on race discrimination, school desegregation, affirmative action and housing law. She has published in the Yale Law Journal, the California Law Review, the Texas Law Review and other scholarly journals. Her work has also appeared in the popular media, including a recent piece in The New Yorker.com commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act.
Professor Adams is working on a forthcoming book: Soul Force: Detroit, The Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle for Racial Justice in America. Soul Force tells the story of the critical desegregation struggle that ended the Brown v. Board of Education era. The book will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Currently the Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy, Professor Adams teaches Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Federal Civil Rights Law and related courses. In 2017, she created Cardozo’s first real-time “pop up” course, The First 100 Days: The Trump Administration & The Rule of Law. From 2010-2013, she served as a Board Member of the Innocence Project. Professor Adams was formerly a Professor of Law at the Seton Hall Law School, a Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Society Civil Appeals and Law Reform Unit, and a Law Clerk for Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV of the Southern District of New York.
She has a B.A. in history from Brown University, a J.D. from City University of New York Law School, and an LL.M. from the Harvard Law School, where she was honored as the first Charles Hamilton Houston Scholar.
Honors and Awards
•Dean's Scholar, Seton Hall University School of Law, (2003-2005)
•Seton Hall University School of Law Professor of the Year nominee: (1997-1998; 1998-1999; 1999-2000; 2000-2001; 2003-2004; 2004-2005)
•Public Interest Law Association Alumni Award for Public Service, CUNY Law School (1996)
•Charles Hamilton Houston Fellow, Harvard Law School (1993)
•Staten Island NAACP Thurgood Marshall Award for Achievement in Civil Rights Litigation (1993)
•Law Students Civil Rights Research Council Summer Internship Award (1987)
Professional Activities and Board Memberships
Additional Teaching Experience
Legal Experience
Clerkships
Publications
Articles and Essays
Integration Reclaimed: Reviewing Critical Race Consciousness by Gary Peller
46 CONNECTICUT LAW REVIEW 725 (2013)
Racial Inclusion, Exclusion and Segregation in Constitutional Law
28 CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY 1 (2012)
Is Integration a Discriminatory Purpose?
96 IOWA LAW REVIEW 837 (2011)
Stifling the Potential of Grutter v. Bollinger: Parents Involved In Community School Districts v. Seattle School District No. 1
88 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 937 (2008)
(Cited in BROOKS, CARRASCO & SELMI, THE LAW OF DISCRIMINATION: CASES AND PERSPECTIVES (2011))
Radical Integration
94 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW 261 (2006)
Shifting Sands: The Jurisprudence of Integration Past, Present, and Future
47 HOWARD LAW JOURNAL 795 (2004)
Searching for Strict Scrutiny in Grutter v. Bollinger
78 TULANE LAW REVIEW 1941 (2004)
Grutter v. Bollinger: This Generation’s Brown v. Board of Education?
35 UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO LAW REVIEW 755 (2004)
Causation, Constitutional Principles and the Jurisprudential Legacy of the Warren Court
59 WASHINGTON & LEE LAW REVIEW 1173 (2002)
Intergroup Rivalry, Anti-Competitive Conduct and Affirmative Action
82 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1089 (2002)
Isn’t It Ironic? The Central Paradox at the Heart of Percentage Plans
62 OHIO STATE LAW JOURNAL 1729 (2001)
(Cited in BROOKS, CARRASCO & SELMI, THE LAW OF DISCRIMINATION: CASES AND PERSPECTIVES (2011) and FARBER, ESKRIDGE & FRICKEY, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: THEMES FOR THE CONSTITUTION’S THIRD CENTURY (4th ed., 2009))
Causation and Responsibility in Tort and Affirmative Action
79 TEXAS LAW REVIEW 643 (2001)
The Last Wave of Affirmative Action
1998 WISCONSIN LAW REVIEW 1395
(Cited in BROOKS, CARRASCO & SELMI, THE LAW OF DISCRIMINATION: CASES AND PERSPECTIVES (2011))
Knowing Your Place: Theorizing Sexual Harassment at Home
40 ARIZONA LAW REVIEW 17 (1998)
Separate and [Un]Equal: Housing Choice, Mobility and Equalization in the Federally Subsidized Housing Program
71 TULANE LAW REVIEW 413 (1997)
Amicus Briefs
Co-Author, Brief Amici Curiae of 38 Current Members of the Texas State Senate and House of Representatives, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
Supreme Court of the United States 2012-2013 Term
Co-Author, Brief Amici Curiae of The National Parent Teacher Association, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1
Supreme Court of the United States 2006-2007 Term
Contact Information
Cardozo School of Law
55 Fifth Avenue
Room 507
New York, NY 10003
Follow her on Twitter:
Michelle Adams@mvadams12
Michelle Adams in the news
- Apr 11, 2018 Professor Adams' Article in The New Yorker Examines the Fair Housing Act's Impact Over 50 Years
- Nov 8, 2017 "Democracy Talks" Kicks off With Panel
- Aug 22, 2017 Professors Michelle Adams and Julie Suk Contribute to YU's "Reflections on Charlottesville"
- May 9, 2017 Cardozo Law's "The First 100 Days" Course Featured in Huffington Post
- Feb 7, 2017 Cardozo School of Law Prepares Students For Shifting Legal Landscape in Trump Administration's First Days
- Jul 27, 2015 Bench Marks: Michelle Adams on the Supreme Court's Fair Housing Act Ruling
"Michelle Adams is a leading scholar in social justice issues and civil rights"
Videos