Academic Employment

University of Toronto (2021-present)
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Fellow, Trinity College

University of Missouri (2020-2021)
Kinder Institute Assistant Professor of Constitutional Democracy, Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science

University of Toronto (2018-2020)
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Associate, Trinity College
Affiliated Faculty, Centre for the Study of the United States

University of Virginia (2016-2018)
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Program on Constitutionalism & Democracy
Lecturer, Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics

Education

Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin (2016)
Government (Public Law, American Politics)
Dissertation: “The Politics of Sovereignty: Federalism in American Political Development”

A.M., University of Chicago (2011)
Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (Political Science, Law)
Thesis: “Federative Conflict: An Inquiry into the Role of Conflict in the American Constitutional Order”

B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison (2008)
Political Science, Philosophy
Graduated with Distinction

Research Interests

American Politics: American political and constitutional development; American political thought; federalism; separation of powers; political institutions

Public Law: constitutional theory, law, and development; rights jurisprudence; comparative constitutional law and design

Publications

“Dignity Disputed.” Journal of Law & Courts. (forthcoming)

“The Structural Articulation of Equal Dignity.” In Probing Human Dignity: Exploring the Margins from an Interdisciplinary Perspective. New York: Springer. (forthcoming)

“From Predicate to Object: Constitutionalizing Sovereignty in the American Order.” In America Then and Now: Citizenship and Constitutionalism in American Politics,  edited by Steven Pittz and Joseph Postell. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. (2022)

“With Dignity and Justice for All: The Jurisprudence of ‘Equal Dignity’ and the Partial Convergence of Liberty and Equality in American Constitutional Law,” International Journal of Constitutional Law 16(3): 753-775. (2018)

“The Promises and Pathologies of Presidential Federalism,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 48(3): 552-569 (2018). (with Nicholas Jacobs)

“The Problem of Rule-Following in American Political Thought,” in Exploring the Political Economy and Social Philosophy of James M. Buchanan, edited by P. Aligica, C. Coyne, and S. Haeffele. London: Rowman & Littlefield International. (2018)

“Structure and Relationship in American Federalism: Foundations, Consequences, and ‘Basic Principles’ Revisited,” 51 Tulsa Law Review 689 (2016)

Works-in-Progress

“Publius’ Proleptic Constitution” (revise & resubmit)

“‘Not so with different Governments’: Separation of Powers, Federalism, and the Limits of Constitutional Conflict” (under revision for edited volume)

Good Government: Separation of Powers and American Constitutionalism (co-editor; under contract, University Press of Kansas)

The Politics of Sovereignty: Federalism in American Political Development (book manuscript)

“Constitutional Hypocrisy” (with Thomas R. Bell)

Teaching & Advising

• University of Toronto
  • American Political Development (Winter 2019, 2020, 2022)
  • Ethics & Society: Human Dignity (Trinity College: Fall 2018, 2019, 2021)
  • Civil Liberties in the United States (Fall 2018, 2019)
  • Political Economy & Social Inequality (Trinity College, Fall 2018-Winter 2019 & Fall 2019-Winter 2020)
  • Advising:
    • Trinity College: senior thesis program (1); Community Research Program in Ethics (CRPE, capstone course for Ethics, Society & Law program) (1); President’s Scholar program (1)
    • Political Science: The Media in American Political Thought & Development (independent study, Fall 2019)
• University of Missouri
  • Sex, Drugs, & Sovereignty: American Federalism (Spring 2021)
  • American Government (Fall 2020, Spring 2021)
• University of Virginia
  • The American Political Tradition, Instructor (Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018)
  • Constitutional Democracy: The Theory & Design of Modern Government, Instructor (Spring 2018)
• University of Texas
  • American Political Parties, Assistant Instructor (Fall 2015-Summer 2016)
  • Constitutional Law-Civil Liberties, Teaching Assistant (Spring 2016)
  • Introduction to American Government, Supplemental Instructor (Fall 2015)
  • U.S. Congress, Teaching Assistant (Spring 2014)
  • Constitutional Law-Structure of Power, Teaching Assistant (Fall 2013)
  • Religion and Politics in the United States, Teaching Assistant (Summer 2013)

Service

• Reviewer for Law & Social Inquiry, International Journal of Constitutional Law, Political Science Reviewer, Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy
• Co-editor, The New Rambler Review (2019-present)
• Organizer, Shawnee Trail Conference on American Politics and Constitutionalism (2019, 2020)
• University of Texas Graduate Conference in Public Law, Founder & Organizer (2014)
• University of Texas Public Law Lunch, Founder & Chair (Fall 2012-Spring 2014)
• Member: APSA, MPSA, LSA