Brandon L. Bartels, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
George Washington University

My research and teaching interests center on American politics, judicial politics, the U.S. Supreme Court, public perceptions of law and courts, institutional legitimacy, and judicial power and court-curbing in comparative context. My work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and other outlets. My research has also been supported by the National Science Foundation. My book with Christopher D. Johnston, Curbing the Court: Why the Public Constrains Judicial Independence, is out now from Cambridge University Press.

Current projects include: (1) a study of Supreme Court polarization and its consequences (funded by NSF); (2) a comparative analysis of high courts and court-curbing around the world (with Eric Kramon and Caleb Schmotter); (3) continuing research on the nature and dynamics of public support for the U.S. Supreme Court, with connections to judicial power and legitimacy (with Eric Kramon); and (4) a study of whether voters punish their preferred candidates for attacking the Supreme Court (with Jasmine Smith).

I teach undergraduate courses in constitutional law, constitutional interpretation, and Supreme Court simulation and Ph.D. courses in political institutions and political methodology.