Lee Epstein is the Henry Wade Rogers Professor at Northwestern University. Before moving to Northwestern in 2006, she served as the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2004, she was designated a Thorsten Sellin Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; and in 2006 she was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Epstein's interests center on the U.S. Supreme Court, constitutional courts abroad, judicial behavior, and constitutional law. Recent research projects, undertaken with colleagues throughout the United States, include Ideological Drift (Northwestern University Law Review, Judicature), which assesses the extent to which Supreme Court justices exhibit a shift in their preferences over time); Ideological Homogeneity (University of North Carolina Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law), which examines the role of ideological diversity in generating consequential decisions and clear rules; and Super Medians (Stanford Law Review, forthcoming), which considers why strong swings emerge on the Court.
She currently is working with the papers of Justice Harry A. Blackmun for a book on agenda setting on the U.S. Supreme Court. Other on-going projects include Strategic Defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court (examines the circumstances leading lower courts to comply with/defy higher courts); Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging (addresses the questions of whether male and female judges decide cases distinctly and whether the presence of a female judge on a panel causes her male colleagues to behave differently), which won the Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best paper delivered at the 2007 annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association; and a series of papers growing out of her book, Advice and Consent: The Politics of Judicial Appointments (Oxford University Press), which received extensive media coverage—with its findings reported in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among other outlets.
A recipient of ten grants from the National Science Foundation for her work on law and legal institutions, Epstein has also authored, co-authored, or edited over 100 articles and essays, as well as 14 books, including the Constitutional Law for a Changing America series (in its 6th edition; winner of the Teaching and Mentoring Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association), The Supreme Court Compendium (in its 4th edition; winner of a Special Recognition Honor from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association and an Outstanding Academic Book Award from Choice), and The Choices Justices Make (described in the article "What 15 Top Political Scientists are Working on Now" in The Chronicle of Higher Education and recipient of the Pritchett award for the Best Book on Law and Courts).
Professor Epstein is a former chair of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association and a past President of the Midwest Political Science Association. Professor Epstein is a former chair of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association and a past President of the Midwest Political Science Association. She is a Co-Editor of the Journal of Law, Economics & Organization, and serves (or has served) on the Editorial Boards or Advisory Panels of the American Journal of Political Science, the American Political Science Review, American Politics Research, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, I•CON: The International Journal of Constitutional Law, Law & Policy, Law and Social Inquiry, Law & Society Review, Political Research Quarterly, and Social Science Quarterly.
Epstein regularly directs honors theses and dissertations, and teaches courses on Constitutional Courts, Constitutional Law, Defendants' Rights, Law and Social Change, Research Design and Methods, and the U.S. Supreme Court. She received a Faculty of the Year Award from Washington University's Student Union and was named Professor of the Year by the Undergraduate Political Science Association. Other university awards include the Alumni Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Award and the Arthur Holly Compton Faculty Achievement Award.
keywords: Lee Epstein, Lee Spole Epstein, judicial politics, judging, law and courts, constitutional law, Supreme Court, Northwestern University, Emory University, Syosset