Michael Y. Scudder is a Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He joined the court in May 2018, filling the vacancy created upon the retirement of Judge Richard Posner. From 2009 until confirmed in 2018, Judge Scudder was a partner in the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he practiced complex civil litigation and white collar defense.

From 2007 to 2009, Judge Scudder served in the White House as General Counsel of the National Security Council. He also previously served at the United States Department of Justice on a national security team in the office of the Deputy Attorney General and for four years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. He is a former law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Judge Scudder earned his B.B.A. from Saint Joseph’s College, where he was co-valedictorian, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as editor in chief of the Northwestern University Law Review. Since 2009, Judge Scudder has served as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the Law School. He also teaches national security law at the University of Chicago Law School. He is a recipient of the 2014 U.S. District Court Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service.