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Professor Michael Pal researches primarily the law of democracy, comparative constitutional law, and election law. He publishes in law, political science, and public policy.   

He is the author of over 27 academic articles and is currently at work on a book manuscript on the comparative constitutional law and politics of election commissions. He has recent publications on the notwithstanding clause, the unwritten principle of democracy in constitutional interpretation, voter privacy, electoral governance in federations, the fourth branch of government, and constitutional design of political rights.

He is the co-editor of Cyber-Threats to Canadian Democracy (McGill-Queen’s, 2022), which is the first book on election cyber-security in Canada and which was named one of the Hill Times’ political books of the year. 

His article “The Unwritten Principle of Democracy” (2019) 65:2 McGill Law Journal 269 was cited by both the majority and dissenting opinions of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Court’s leading case on unwritten principles in constitutional interpretation, Toronto (City) v Ontario (AG), 2021 SCC 34.

Professor Pal has a J.D. and doctorate in law from the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto and an LL.M. in Legal Theory from NYU. 

Professor Pal has been influential on law reform in Canada and internationally. He has advised all levels of government in Canada on matters relating to election law and constitutional law. In 2017 he served as a Commissioner with the Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission for the Province of Ontario. The Commission's recommendations to add two new seats and to create the province's first Indigenous-majority riding and second francophone-majority riding were adopted by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He was also the external legal and policy advisor to the Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario's 2017 campaign finance reforms. He appears frequently before Parliamentary committees. Professor Pal advises election commissions around the world. 

Professor Pal is an internationally recognized scholar and academic leader. He is on the Advisory Boards of the Indian Law Review, Electoral Integrity Project, and a member of the International Advisory Panel on Referendums at Australian National University. In 2024, he was a Visiting Professor at the Università Degli Studi di Brescia in their international project on “Enhancing the Effectiveness of Democratic Representation”. He is the founding Co-President of the International Society for Constitutional Law’s Canada Chapter (ICON-S) and was Co-Convenor of the 2024 Public Law Conference hosted at 91��Ʒ���ϳԹ�.

He is a frequent commentator in the media, including in The Globe and Mail, New York Times, CBC's The National and CTV National News.  

He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the South Asian Legal Aid Clinic of Ontario. He previously clerked at the Court of Appeal for Ontario for Justices Moldaver, Blair, Goudge, and Feldman, and worked in a national law firm in Toronto. He was formerly a Fellow at the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation at the University of Toronto's School of Public Policy and Governance.

At the Faculty of Law, Professor Pal received the Faculty of Common Law's 2018 award for teaching excellence. He was academic Director of the Public Law Group at the Faculty for several years.

In 2023, he was invited to deliver the Harold G. Fox Distinguished Lecture, entitled “Could it Happen Here? Canada and the Global Crisis of Democracy”.

His recent research funding includes SSHRC Insight Development Grant for a book on election commission, a Canadian Foundation for Legal Research Grant for work on the unwritten principle of democracy, funding from the Canadian American Bar Association for a project on citizenship, a 2016 SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant with Elizabeth F. Judge on big data politics and the implications for voter privacy, a SSHRC Connections Grant for a conference on electoral reform, and a grant from the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Province of Ontario for research on the representation of Indigenous Peoples in federal and provincial elections.

He supervises doctoral students in constitutional law and theory and election law.

• Twitter: @mikepalcanada
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• Michael Pal, editor, Edward Elgar Handbook: The Fourth Branch of Government (Edward Elgar; commissioned by the publisher, publication expected 2025)
• Michael Pal, “Democracy and the Notwithstanding Clause” (2024) Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence (First view)
• Michael Pal, “The Legal Framework for Electoral Integrity” in the Oxford Handbook of Electoral Integrity, Holly Ann Garnett and Toby James, editors (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2025)
• Erin Crandall and Michael Pal, “Finding Common Ground? Campaign Finance and the Law and Politics Divide” (under review).
• Michael Pal, “Section 3 of the Charter at 40” in The Surprising Constitution, Kerri Froc, Howard Kislowicz, andRichard Moon, eds (UBC Press, 2024)
• Sarah Burton and Michael Pal, “Election Law, Judicial Review, and Canadian Democracy” in Cristina Fasone, Edmondo Mostacci, and Graziella Romeo, Judicial Review and Electoral Law in a Global Perspective (Hart Publishing, 2024).
• Michael Pal, “The Canadian Model of Electoral District Design” (2024) Special Edition Rivista di Diritto e Giustizia Costituzionale (Italy)
• Michael Pal and Luka Ryder-Bunting, “Citizenship and the First Generation Limitation in Canada” (2022) 45:1 Dalhousie Law Journal 159
• Michael Pal, “Constitutional Design of Electoral Governance in Federal States” (2021) 16S Asian Journal of Comparative Law.
• Michael Pal, “A Pandemic Federal Election: Democracy Under Conditions of Emergency” (2021) 53:1 Ottawa Law Review 35.
• Holly-Ann Garnet & Michael Pal, eds, Cyber-Threats to Canadian Democracy (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022)
• "The Unwritten Principle of Democracy" (2019) 65:2 McGill Law Journal 269
• Elizabeth F. Judge and Michael Pal, "Voter Privacy and Big-Data Elections" (2021) 58:1 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 1: . 
• Michael Pal, "Social Media and Democracy: Challenges for Election Law and Administration in Canada" (2020) 19:2 Election Law Journal 200: .   
• Richard Albert and Michael Pal, "The Democratic Resilience of the Canadian Constitution" in Mark Tushnet, Sanford Levinson, and Mark Graber, eds, Constitutional Democracy in Crisis? (Oxford University Press, 2018)
• Michael Pal, "Is the Permanent Campaign the End of the Egalitarian Model of Elections?" in Richard Albert, Paul Daly, and Vanessa MacDonnell, eds, The Canadian Constitution in Transition (University of Toronto Press, 2018) 
• Michael Pal, "Constitutional Design of Political Rights" in James Gardner, ed, Comparative Election Law (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2022) 158.  
• Michael Pal, "The South Asian Fourth Branch" in Tarunabh Khaitain, Dinesha Samararatne, and Swati Jhaveri, eds, Constitutional Resilience in South Asia (Hart, 2022)
• Elizabeth F. Judge and Michael Pal, "Election Cyber-Security Challenges for Canada": https://www.cigionline.org/articles/election-cyber-security-challenges-canada
• Michael Pal, "BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Ass'n v British Columbia (AG): Mandatory Registration Rules and Limits on Third Party Political Expression under the Charter" (2018) Supreme Court Law Review. 
• Michael Pal, "Evaluating Bill C-76: The Elections Modernization Act" (2019) Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law
• Michael Pal, "Third Party Political Participation and Anti-Collusion Rules" (2018) Canadian Public Administration 
• Michael Pal, "Three Narratives About Canadian Election Law" (2017) 16:2 Election Law Journal 255 (U.S.)
• Michael Pal, "Canadian Election Administration on Trial: Robocalls, Opitz, and Disputed Elections in the Courts" (2017) 28:2 King's Law Journal 324 (U.K.)
• Michael Pal, "Constitutional Amendment After the Senate Reference and the Prospects for Electoral Reform" (2016) 76 Supreme Court Law Review 2nd 377
• Michael Pal, "Electoral Management Bodies as a Fourth Branch of Government” (2016) 21:1 Review of Constitutional Studies 87
• Michael Pal, “The Fractured Right to Vote: Democracy, Discretion, and Designing Electoral Districts" (2015) 61:2 McGill Law Journal 1
• Michael Pal, "Fair Representation in the House of Commons?" (2015) Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law" Special Edition 
• Michael Pal, “Breakdowns in the Democratic Process and the Law of Canadian Democracy” (2011) 57:2 McGill Law Journal 299
• Michael Pal, “The Promise and Limits of Citizens’ Assemblies: Deliberation, Institutions and the Law of Democracy” (2012) 38:1 Queen’s Law Journal 261
• Michael Pal, “Democratic Rights and Social Science Evidence” (2014) 32:2 National Journal of Constitutional Law 151 
• “Still Not Equal? Visible Minority Vote Dilution” (2014) 8:1 Canadian Political Science Review 85
• “Is Every Ballot Equal? Visible Minority Vote Dilution in Canada” (2007) 13:1 IRPP Choices 1
• Michael Pal, “The Supreme Court of Canada’s Approach to the Recovery of Ultra Vires Taxes: At the Border of Private and Public Law” (2008) 66:1 University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review 65
• “The Impact of Regionally-Differentiated Employment Insurance Benefits on Charter-Protected Canadians” in Making EI Work, Keith Banting, ed. (Kingston-Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013)

• Elizabeth F. Judge and Michael Pal, "Privacy and the Electorate: Big Data and the Personalization of Politics", SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Report funded by a 2016 SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant
• Melissa Molson and Michael Pal, “Moving Toward Voter Equality: Mowat Centre Report on the Proposed Electoral Boundaries for Ontario” (2012)