Miranda McGowan

Miranda McGowan
Phone: (619) 260-4154
Office: Warren Hall 109B
Assistant:

Brady Sisk
bsisk@SanDiego.edu

Professor of Law

  • JD, 1995, Stanford University
  • BA, 1991, University of California, Berkeley

Areas of Expertise

Constitutional Interpretation, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law and Constitutional Rights, Employment and Labor Law, Employment Discrimination, Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Legislation, Race and Gender Identity, Torts

Professional Experience

McGowan clerked for the Honorable John T. Noonan, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1995 to 1996. She practiced employment discrimination law and complex litigation as an associate at the law firm of Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin until she joined the University of Minnesota Law School in 1998. McGowan joined the USD School of Law faculty in 2005.McGowan received her BA in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991, where she was awarded the departmental citation for graduating first in her department. She graduated with distinction from Stanford University Law School in 1995, where she was an articles editor for the Stanford Law Review.

Professor McGowan teaches and writes in the areas of employment discrimination, constitutional law, and race and gender identity. She is currently researching and writing on the nature of group identity and its relationship to constitutional protection from discrimination, on claims by originalists that a constitutional prohibition on sex discrimination is consistent with the original meaning of the 14th Amendment, and on how a more accurate understanding of the similarities between men and women should guide legal doctrine and public policy.McGowan clerked for the Honorable John T. Noonan, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1995 to 1996. She practiced employment discrimination law and complex litigation as an associate at the law firm of Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin until she joined the University of Minnesota Law School in 1998. McGowan joined the USD School of Law faculty in 2005.

Honors and Affiliations

McGowan received her BA in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991, where she was awarded the departmental citation for graduating first in her department. She graduated with distinction from Stanford University Law School in 1995, where she was an articles editor for the Stanford Law Review. In 2021-22, she was named the Class of 1975 Endowed Professor in recognition of her teaching, leadership, and academic accomplishments.

Scholarly Work