About

Nicholas Bagley is the Thomas G. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He is an expert in administrative law and health law. In 2020 and 2022, he served as special counsel and then chief legal counsel to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. His academic work has been published widely, including in the Harvard Law Review and the Columbia Law Review, and he contributes frequently to popular outlets such as The New York Times and The Atlantic. Before joining Michigan Law, Bagley was an attorney with the appellate staff in the Civil Division at the US Department of Justice, where he argued a dozen cases before the US Courts of Appeals and acted as lead counsel in many more. Prior to entering law school, he joined Teach For America and taught eighth-grade English at a public school in New York City.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Security
• Medicine
• Pathology
• Business
• Intensive care medicine
• Medical emergency
• Nursing
• Economics
• Environmental health
• Public economics
• Virology
• Law
• Actuarial science
• Public administration

Selected publications

• Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing—How Courts Could Shape Future Health Regulation

  JAMA Health Forum · 2025-10-10 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  This Viewpoint discusses legal questions around the Trump administration’s recent Executive Order about most-favored-nation drug pricing in the US.

  PublisherDOI

• The <em>State</em> Capacity Crisis

  Boston College law review · 2025-10-31

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Crumbling infrastructure, inadequate housing supply, failing schools, public disorder—few government services seem to work as they should. For a decade, a nascent scholarly movement has been warning that America faces a crisis of state capacity. Although the major figures in this “state capacity movement” have identified the right problem, they concentrate almost exclusively on the federal government. That yields a misdiagnosis of why the American government lacks capacity and leads to solutions that are unlikely to accomplish much. In the United States, it is state and local governments that do most of what “the state” does, and they suffer from different pathologies from the federal government. First, voters know next to nothing about their state and local representatives, and instead base their votes on national political affiliation. That dulls public accountability for good government performance. Second, state administrative law is as strict, and often stricter, than federal administrative law, especially when it comes to rules around public participation. That privileges interest groups that have the organizational wherewithal to exploit the procedural opportunities that administrative law affords. Third, states have limited fiscal capacity relative to the federal government. When a recession depletes tax revenue, states have few choices except to increase taxes or reduce spending, right when public services are needed most. These three factors are the primary drivers of a dearth of American state capacity, and they are all getting worse. Yet they are basically invisible in the state capacity literature. To improve the quality of American governance, we must examine the right governments and ask the right questions.

  PublisherDOI

• The State Capacity Crisis

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Preventive Care at the Supreme Court

  New England Journal of Medicine · 2025-07-23 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Delegation at the Founding: A Response to the Critics

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2022-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• <i>California v. Texas</i> — Ending the Campaign to Undo the ACA in the Courts

  New England Journal of Medicine · 2021-07-14 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Interview with Prof. Nicholas Bagley on the Supreme Court’s decision in California v. Texas (12:46)Download In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected what will probably be the last major case seeking to uproot the ACA. The Court’s decision most likely marks an end to Republicans’ efforts to achieve in the courts what they have been unable to achieve in Congress.

  PublisherDOI

• Medicare Coverage of Aducanumab - Implications for State Budgets

  New England Journal of Medicine · 2021 · 7 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Medicine
  • Public economics

  Aducanumab (Aduhelm), the controversial $56,000-per-year Alzheimer’s disease drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2021, has the potential to cost the federal government many billions of dollars — more, by one estimate, than it spends on agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The drug’s extraordinary price tag helps explain why, soon after its approval, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) opened a national coverage determination to decide whether and under what circumstances Medicare would pay for it.1

  PublisherDOI

• Will the Supreme Court Hear <i>Texas v United States</i>?

  JAMA Health Forum · 2020-02-17 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Coronavirus and the Risks to the Elderly in Long-Term Care

  Journal of Aging & Social Policy · 2020 · 310 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Security
  • Medicine
  • Environmental health

  The elderly in long-term care (LTC) and their caregiving staff are at elevated risk from COVID-19. Outbreaks in LTC facilities can threaten the health care system. COVID-19 suppression should focus on testing and infection control at LTC facilities. Policies should also be developed to ensure that LTC facilities remain adequately staffed and that infection control protocols are closely followed. Family will not be able to visit LTC facilities, increasing isolation and vulnerability to abuse and neglect. To protect residents and staff, supervision of LTC facilities should remain a priority during the pandemic.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Importing Prescription Drugs from Canada — Legal and Practical Problems with the Trump Administration’s Proposal

  New England Journal of Medicine · 2020-05-06 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Interview with Prof. Rachel Sachs on the Trump administration’s proposal to allow states to develop programs to import prescription drugs from Canada. (10:05)Download The Trump administration has proposed a rule that, if finalized, would allow states to develop programs to import lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada. But the proposal is both unlikely to be successful in lowering drug prices and possibly unlawful.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Helen Levy

  6 shared

• Rachel E. Sachs

  Washington University in St. Louis

  6 shared

• Darius Lakdawalla

  University of Southern California

  5 shared

• Austin B. Frakt

  VA Boston Healthcare System

  5 shared

• David K. Jones

  3 shared

• Samyukta Mullangi

  Tennessee Oncology

  3 shared

• Allan M. Joseph

  Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

  3 shared

• Craig Garthwaite

  Kellogg's (Canada)

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• Elected to Membership in American Law Institute (2024)