Nick Bednar 600

Nicholas Bednar ’16

  • Associate Professor of Law
326 Mondale Hall

Degrees

  • University of Minnesota, B.A.
  • University of Minnesota, J.D.
  • Vanderbilt University , M.A.
  • Vanderbilt University, Ph.D.

Expertise

  • Administrative Law
  • Immigration Law

Professor Nicholas R. Bednar ‘16 joined the University of Minnesota Law School faculty in 2023. He specializes in administrative law, executive-branch politics, immigration, and quantitative methods. His research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the George Washington Law Review, and Political Science Research and Methods, among others. He teaches torts and legislation and regulation.

Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Bednar received his PhD in political science from Vanderbilt University, where he was an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. He clerked for the Honorable Tracy M. Smith of the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the Honorable John R. Tunheim ‘80 of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Professor Bednar graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he served as Lead Articles Editor of the Minnesota Law Review and received the William B. Lockhart Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Leadership, and Service. He holds a B.A. in political science and history from the University of Minnesota.

Torts


Legislation and Regulation - 1L


Legislation and Regulation


Policymaking and Public Administration


Journal Articles

Bureaucratic Autonomy and the Policymaking Capacity of U.S. Federal Agencies, 1998-2021, 12 Political Science Research and Methods 652 (2024)
Presidential Investment in the Administrative State, 118 American Political Science Review 442 (2024)
(with
David E. Lewis
)
The Public Administration of Justice, 44 Cardozo Law Review 2139 (2023)
Justifying Delay: Why Agencies Delay Compliance Dates and How They Do It, 4 Loyola University Chicago Journal of Regulatory Compliance 1 (2019)
The Winter of Discontent: A Circumscribed Chevron, 45 Mitchell Hamline Law Review 395 (2019)
What to Do About Chevron--Nothing, 72 Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc 151 (2019)
Asylum's Interpretative Impasse: Interpreting "Persecution" and "Particular Social Group" Using International Human Rights Law, 26 Minnesota Journal of International Law 145 (2017)
(with
Margaret Penland
)
Chevron's Inevitability, 85 George Washington Law Review 1392 (2017)
(with
Deferring to the Rule of Law: A Comparative Look at United States Deference Doctrines, 47 University of Memphis Law Review 1047 (2017)
(with
Barbara Marchevsky
)
The Clear-Statement Chevron Canon, 66 DePaul Law Review 819 (2017)
Social Group Semantics: The Evidentiary Requirements of "Particularity" and "Social Distinction" in Pro Se Asylum Adjudications, 100 Minnesota Law Review 355 (2015) (note)

Book Chapters

Policy Implementation and the Judiciary, in The Handbook of Public Policy Implementation 286 (Fritz Sager, Céline Mavrot & Lael R. Keiser, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024)
(with
Paul J. Gardner
and
Sharece Thrower
)

Other Publications

A Primer on the Civil Service and the Trump Administration, Lawfare, Dec. 3, 2024
Sixth Circuit Limits Executive Authority Possessed by Commission Chairs, 49 Administrative & Regulatory Law News 18 (Spring 2024)
Eighth Circuit Vacates EPA Rule after Agency Relied on Ninth Circuit Order, 49 Administrative & Regulatory Law News 14 (Winter 2024)
Sixth Circuit Considers the Legacy of Benzene, 49 Administrative & Regulatory Law News 22 (Fall 2023)
Chevron’s Latest Step, Yale Journal on Regulation: Notice & Comment (2022)
Chevron Critics and Clarity, 27 The Public Lawyer 2 (2019)
Coping with Chevron: Justice Gorsuch’s Majority and Justice Breyer’s Dissent in SAS Institute, Yale Journal on Regulation: Notice & Comment (2018)
DACA on the Docket, Minnesota Law Review De Novo (2017)
Defying Auer Deference: Skidmore as a Solution to Conservative Concerns in Perez v.Mortgage Bankers AssociationMinnesota Law Review De Novo (2015)