John Francis Manning (born April 11, 1961) is an American legal scholar who serves as the provost of Harvard University.

After clerking for Judge Robert Bork and Justice Antonin Scalia, he was named the Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law at Columbia University.

[13] He was invited to join the law school by dean Elena Kagan as part of an effort to increase conservative members of the faculty.

[9] Manning's hiring came among a new series of public legal scholars, also including Jack Goldsmith and Adrian Vermeule.

[9] After the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law began accepting Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) results for student admission in 2016, Manning influenced Harvard Law's decision to also accept the GRE for admission, which the school announced in March 2017.

[10] Martha Minow, the 12th dean of HLS, announced her intention to retire from the deanship on January 5, 2017, at the end of the academic year.

[17] His appointment to the role as Minow's successor was praised by former dean Elena Kagan, who had become an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

[10] It was also endorsed by Danielle Allen, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, and Judge David J. Barron of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

[25] Manning has received the American Bar Association's Award for Scholarship in Administrative Law, and won twice the Willis Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching of Columbia University.