Election Law Clinic

Ruth is the Director of the Election Law Clinic. She engages in litigation and advocacy on a variety of election law cases, while training the next generation of election lawyers.

Ruth litigated two partisan gerrymandering cases from the trial level to the Supreme Court of the United States, Gill v. Whitford and Rucho v. Common Cause, and has litigated voting rights acts claims at the state and federal level. In addition, Ruth has advised dozens of state advocates on drafting and implementing independent redistricting commissions, state voting rights acts, and adopting ranked choice voting. Some of her publications include:  Designing Independent Redistricting Commissions, Designing State VRAs, the Civic Benefits of Ranked Choice Voting, and Fair Representation in Local Government.

Ruth was previously the Co-Director of Voting Rights and Redistricting at the Campaign Legal Center, Lead Counsel for Voting Rights at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a Redistricting Fellow with the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute. She received her LL.M from Columbia Law School in 2009, and her LL.B./B.Sc. from the University of Sydney in 2005. Ruth is admitted to practice as an attorney in Massachusetts, Illinois and New York.

Nicholas Stephanopoulos provides strategic advice for clinic cases, helps to litigate some of these matters, and is involved in supervising student work.

Professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos’s research and teaching interests include election law, constitutional law, administrative law, legislation, and comparative law. His work is particularly focused on the intersection of democratic theory, empirical political science, and the American electoral system. His academic articles have appeared in, among others, the California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, New York University Law Review, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. He has also written for popular publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlantic, New Republic, Slate, and Vox. He has been involved in several litigation efforts as well, including two partisan gerrymandering cases based on his scholarship and decided by the Supreme Court.

Theresa is the Litigation Director and a clinical instructor at the Election Law Clinic.  Prior to joining the ELC, she was a Senior Staff Attorney in the ACLU Voting Rights Project.  At the ACLU, Theresa litigated voting rights cases throughout the country, including challenges to restrictions on voter registration, felony disenfranchisement, and discriminatory voter identification and registration requirements.

Before becoming a voting rights litigator, Theresa practiced at two law firms in New York.  She was a law clerk to the Hon. Rosemary S. Pooler of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and previously litigated with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office and taught an ‎accompanying clinic at Yale Law School. Theresa received her J.D. from Yale Law School, and holds a master’s degree from the New School for Social Research and a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University.  She is admitted to practice in New York.

Daniel Hessel is a clinical instructor in the Election Law Clinic. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Yale Law School. He clerked for Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before joining the Clinic, he litigated election law cases with the Campaign Legal Center and environmental cases with the Natural Resources Defense Council.