Paul M. Collins, Jr. is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas. In the fall of 2014 he will join the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as Director of Legal Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from Binghamton University and a B.S. in political science from the University of Scranton. His research focuses on judicial politics, with a particular interest in the democratic nature of the judiciary. Collins' scholarship is motivated by the desire to apply interdisciplinary approaches to the study of law and courts. The recipient of numerous research awards, he has published articles in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Journal of Politics, Law & Social Inquiry, Law & Society Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Political Research Quarterly, and other journals. His research has been funded by grants from the Dirksen Congressional Center and the National Science Foundation. He is currently a member of the editorial board of the Justice System Journal and Political Research Quarterly and is the List Master of the Law and Courts Discussion List. A well regarded and challenging professor, Collins teaches courses on American political institutions, interest groups, judicial politics, and legal studies.
Collins is also the author of two books. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings and Constitutional Change, coauthored with Lori A. Ringhand, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making was published in 2008 by Oxford University Press and received the 2009 C. Herman Pritchett Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. This award recognizes Friends of the Supreme Court as the best book on law and courts written by a political scientist. For more information about these books, including replication materials and purchasing information, click on one of the book jackets below.
