Paul Gardiner

I am Assistant Professor of Politics in the Department Political Studies and a Research Fellow in the Centre for Studies on Democracy and Diversity at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

My research and teaching interests are broadly in American law and politics. My work sits at the intersection of a number of sub-disciplines of political science, including American institutions, judicial politics, American political development, law and society, and political behavior. My primary research agenda aims to understand the effectiveness of “private enforcement statutes,” federal laws in which the primary mechanism of enforcement is private litigation, rather than direct bureaucratic action.

In other research, I examine the effect of the American separation of powers system on judicial decision making—especially the role that the president and executive branch play in constraining Supreme Court behavior.

My work has appeared in the Journal of Politics, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Constitutional Studies, and more.