Michael Sant’Ambrogio teaches and writes in Administrative and Regulatory Law, Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, and Constitutional Law. His research explores decision-making by federal agencies in an era of burgeoning responsibilities, declining budgets, and enhanced presidential control. His scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in Boston University Law Review, Columbia Law Review, The Georgetown Law Journal, The George Washington Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, Washington University Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. His article, The Agency Class Action, was selected for the Harvard-Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum. Professor Sant’Ambrogio has served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States on projects studying public engagement with federal agency rulemaking and the use of class actions and other aggregate procedures in agency adjudication. In 2016, the Administrative Conference adopted his recommendations based on the findings described in his Yale Law Journal article, Inside the Agency Class Action. In 2018, the Administrative Conference adopted his recommendations on enhancing public engagement with federal agency agenda setting and rule development.
Professor Sant’Ambrogio is a 2001 graduate of New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. He received his B.A. in History from Columbia University and an M.A. in American History from New York University. Before coming to MSU, he practiced law in New York City and taught at New York University School of Law.
Download Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
J.D. New York University School of Law
M.A. New York University
B.A. Columbia University
Law Faculty Repository »
Law Review Articles
Democratizing Rule Development, 98 Wash. U.L. Rev. 793 (2021) (w/Glen Staszewski)
Presidential Maladministration, 46 Oh. N.L. Rev. 459 (2020)
Private Enforcement in Administrative Courts, 72 Vand. L. Rev. 425 (2019)
Inside the Agency Class Action, 126 Yale L.J. 1634 (2017)
Legislative Exhaustion, 58 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1253 (2017)
Standing in the Shadow of Popular Sovereignty, 95 B.U. L. Rev. 1869 (2015).
The Extra-Legislative Veto, 102 Geo. L.J. 351 (2014).
The Agency Class Action, 112 Colum. L. Rev. 1992 (2012) (w/Adam Zimmerman) (selected for the 2012 Harvard-Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum).
Agency Delays: How a Principal-Agent Approach Can Inform Judicial and Executive Branch Review of Agency Foot-Dragging, 79 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1381 (2011).
Baehr v. Lewin and the Long Road to Marriage Equality, 33 U. Haw. L. Rev. 705 (2011) (with Sylvia A. Law) (invited submission to Moon Court symposium).
Administrative Law
Formerly DCL 300)
This course examines the place of administrative agencies in American government, and surveys the legal rules and principles governing agency regulation, adjudication, investigation, and enforcement; agency structure; and judicial review of agency action. Students who have taken Administrative Law: Food Safety and Labeling (810K) may not take this course
Civil Procedure
(Formerly Civil Procedure I) A survey of civil procedure, primarily addressing jurisdiction, venue, the Erie doctrine, pleadings, simple joinder, discovery, sanctions, summary judgment, judgment as a matter of law, and former adjudication (claim preclusion and issue preclusion). Primary emphasis is placed on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure with some potential discussion of state deviations from the federal model.
Constitutional Law and the Regulatory State
This course examines the constitutional, statutory, and administrative foundations of American government. The course has two separate, but interrelated goals: First, to introduce students to the structure of and principles behind the American constitutional order. Topics covered under this heading include the sources of federal regulatory authority, separation of powers, federalism, judicial review and theories of constitutional interpretation. Second, the course offers a basic understanding of the workings of the legislative and regulatory process, with special emphasis on the role of agencies, the policy tools at their disposal, and the scope of legislative and judicial oversight of administrative action. In this fashion this course seeks to highlight the intersection between constitutional and administrative law principles across American history and within contemporary debates.
