I am an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and a faculty affiliate of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  I previously served on the faculty at Indiana University, Indianapolis.  I graduated with an A.B. magna cum laude and high honors in Government from the College of William and Mary and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas, Austin.

My research examines public attitudes towards constitutions, and I have secondary interests in constitutional theory and judicial behavior.  My work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Political Research Quarterly, and Law & Society Review.  My first book, The Social Foundations of Constitutional Innovation (co-authored with Joseph Cozza, and David Armstrong) is under contract with Cambridge University Press' Elements in Comparative Political Behavior.  I am also working on a book manuscript analyzing how public opinion influenced the New Deal constitutional revolution.

My research has been cited in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Newsweek, amicus briefs, and a presidential commission report on Supreme Court reform.  I have also provided commentary for CNN, The Monkey Cage, and The Conversation.

I teach undergraduate courses on constitutional law, the Constitution and democracy, the New Deal, and baseball and politics.