Professor Payvand Ahdout of the University of Virginia School of Law has won an award from the Association of American Law Schools for her article on what happens when federal courts avoid separation-of-powers questions.
The AALS Section on Federal Courts named “Separation-of-Powers Avoidance” the best article by an untenured faculty member for 2024. Published in the Yale Law Journal, the article looks at how federal appellate courts in recent years have gone to great lengths to avoid compelling coordinate branch officials to act in cases in which Congress and the executive branch are in conflict. That avoidance distorts legal meaning and creates vacuums that will ultimately be filled by someone other than a judge, Ahdout argues.
This year’s winners will be recognized during an awards ceremony at the AALS annual meeting on Jan. 4.
Ahdout previously discussed her paper in an episode of the Law School podcast “Common Law,” and the paper was highlighted in a UVA Lawyer article on how federal courts are shaping democracy. Her co-taught course Congress, Oversight and the Separation of Powers, which explored the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, examined some real-life examples discussed in her paper.
Ahdout’s research focuses on the structures that undergird the government institutions that are most often before federal courts. Her work incorporates multiple legal disciplines, including constitutional law, civil procedure, and criminal law and procedure.
In 2022, the Yale Law Journal honored Ahdout as the journal’s inaugural Emerging Scholar of the Year for her “significant contributions to legal thought and scholarship” and her work’s “potential to drive improvements in the law.” Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal and Columbia Law Review.
Ahdout graduated with highest distinction from the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar, with a B.A. in economics and government. She holds a law degree from Columbia Law School and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Also at the annual meeting, Professor Kenneth S. Abraham will receive the 2024 Prosser Award from the AALS Section on Torts and Compensation Systems.
Founded in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is the second-oldest continuously operating law school in the nation. Consistently ranked among the top law schools, Virginia is a world-renowned training ground for distinguished lawyers and public servants, instilling in them a commitment to leadership, integrity and community service.
