Professor Krishnakumar joined the St. John's faculty in
2006. She teaches Legislation, Administrative Law, and
Introduction to Law.
Professor Krishnakumar's scholarship focuses on statutory
interpretation and the legislative process; several of her early
articles examine the congressional budget process and lobbying
regulations, while her most recent work explores interpretive
trends in the Supreme Court's statutory jurisprudence. Her
articles have appeared in the Notre Dame Law Review,
the William & Mary Law Review, the Hastings
Law Journal, the Alabama Law Review, and the
Harvard Journal on Legislation. Professor Krishnakumar was
the 2011-2012 Chair of the Legislation and Law of the Political
Process Section of the Association of American Law Schools and is
the editor of the SRRN eJournal on Legislation and Statutory
Interpretation.
Professor Krishnakumar holds an A.B. with
distinction from Stanford University and a J.D. from Yale
Law School. While at Yale she was Chair of the Notes
Committee for the Yale Law Journal, a Senior Editor
on the Yale Law and Policy Review, and a Coker Teaching
Fellow in Constitutional Law.
After graduation, Professor Krishnakumar clerked for
the Hon. José A. Cabranes on the United States Court of Appeals for
the Second Circuit. She then practiced law in the appellate
litigation group at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw and in the general
litigation group at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.
From 2004 to 2006, she was a visiting professor at Touro Law
School, where she was named the "Visiting Professor of the Year" by
the Student Bar Association in 2005.
Selected Publications
The Anti-Messiness Principle in
Statutory Interpretation, 87 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1465 (2012)
(ssrn
link).
Passive Voice References in
Statutory Interpretation, 76 Brooklyn L.Rev. 941 (2011)
(symposium contribution by invitation).
Statutory Interpretation in the
Roberts Court's First Era: An Empirical and Doctrinal
Analysis, 62 Hastings L.J. 221 (2010) (ssrn
link).
The Hidden Legacy of Holy Trinity
Church: The Unique National Institution Canon, 51
William & Mary L. Rev. 1053 (2009) (ssrn
link).
Representation Reinforcement:
A Legislative Solution to a Legislative Process Problem,
46 Harv. J. on Legisl. 1 (2009) (ssrn
link).
Towards A Madisonian,
Interest-Group-Based Approach To Lobbying Regulation, 58 Ala.
L. Rev. 513 (2007) (ssrn
link).
In Defense of the Debt Limit
Statute, 42 Harv. J. on Legisl. 135 (2005) (ssrn
link).
On the Evolution of the Canonical
Dissent in Supreme Court Jurisprudence, 52 Rutgers L.R. 781
(2000) (ssrn
link).
Note, Reconciliation & The
Fiscal Constitution: The Anatomy of the 1995-96 Budget Train
Wreck, 35 Harv. J. on Legisl. 589 (1998) (ssrn
link).
Selected Short Online Essays
Book Review: Cross’s The Theory and Practice of Statutory
Interpretation (June 2010)
The Importance of Other Statutes in Statutory
Interpretation (December 2009)
CRS Lobbying Report (December 2009)
The Roberts Court (Thus
Far) and the Rule of Lenity (November 2009)
Can There Be An
“Undeclared” Canon of Statutory Interpretation? (November
2009)
“Practical Consequences” in Hertz Corp. v. Melinda Friend
(November 2009)
The “Mischief Rule” Rule and the VRA in Riley v. Kennedy
(May 2008)