Paul Collins

My research focuses on understanding bias and inequality in the legal system, the selection and work of judges, social movement litigation, and how people understand the law. 

I have published articles in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Law and Courts, Journal of Politics, Law & Social Inquiry, Law & Society Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Political Research Quarterly, and other journals. My research has been funded by grants from the Dirksen Congressional Center and the National Science Foundation.

I am also the author of four books. 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. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings and Constitutional Change, coauthored with Lori A. Ringhand, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press and was recognized by Choice as an 2014 Outstanding Academic Title. My third book, The President and the Supreme Court: Going Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump, coauthored with Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, was published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press and received the 2021 Richard E. Neustadt Award from the Presidents and Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. This award recognizes The President and the Supreme Court as the best book published that contributed to research and scholarship in the field of the American presidency. The book was also selected as an Exemplary Legal Writing Honoree by The Green Bag Almanac and Reader, an annual collection of the year’s best legal writing. Supreme Bias: Gender and Race in U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, coauthored with Christina L. Boyd and Lori A. Ringhand, was published by Stanford University Press in 2023. It examines the biases that female nominees and nominees of color face on their paths to the Supreme Court.

I served on the editorial boards of Justice System Journal, Law & Social Inquiry, Law & Society Review, and Political Research Quarterly. I am also the immediate past President of the Consortium for Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs and was the List Master of the Law and Courts Discussion List from 2014-2020. My research and commentary have appeared in a host of popular media outlets, including CNN, the New York Times, National Law Journal, National Public Radio, San Francisco Chronicle, Time, USA Today, Voice of America, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. I have also published in New York Daily News, SCOTUSblog, Slate, The Conversation, and the Washington Post.

I am excited to work with graduate students who have an interest in the democratic nature of the judiciary; interbranch interactions; judicial behavior and selection; gender, race, and judges; media coverage of court decisions and rights claiming; social movement litigation; and other topics.

In the past, I have hired graduate student research assistants to work on projects involving the influence of amicus curiae briefs on judicial decision making; presidential statements on Supreme Court decisions; Supreme Court confirmation hearings; LGBT+ newspaper coverage of court decisions and rights claiming; and other topics. I have co-authored numerous articles with graduate students, including publications in American Politics Research, Journal of Politics, and Political Research Quarterly.

• Collins' Book Selected as Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2014
• Collins Named Public Engagement Fellow
• Collins Joins UMass as First-Ever Director of Legal Studies

Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship for outstanding accomplishments in research and creative activity, University of Massachusetts Amherst, $3,500 prize and one-year release from teaching and service duties. 2022-2023.

National Science Foundation Grant, $399,987. (Award Number 2043745). 2021-2023. (with Douglas Rice and Jesse Rhodes).

Scientific Leader, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), €430,000. 2022-2024. (Gaëtan Cliquennois, Scientific Coordinator).

National Science Foundation Conference Grant, $39,997. (Award Number 2023630). 2020-2023. (with Jamie Rowen).

University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of Faculty Development Mutual Mentoring Team Grant, $5,717. 2021-2022. (with Ian George Barron, Laura Ciolkowski, Razvan Sibii, and Jonathan Wynn).

University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of Faculty Development Mutual Mentoring Team Grant, $5,730. 2020-2021. (with Jennifer Nye, Brendan O’Connor, Douglas Rice, Jamie Rowen, and Kathryne Young).

Congressional Research Award from the Dirksen Congressional Center, $3,500. 2019. (with Lori A. Ringhand).

Massachusetts Society of Professors Research Support Fund Grant, $1,000. 2019. 2020.

Five College Consortium Research Grant to support the Five College Seminar in Legal Studies. $1,000. 2015-2016. 2016-2017. 2017-2018. 2018-2019. 2021-2022.

Congressional Research Award from the Dirksen Congressional Center, $3,477. 2011-2012. (with Lori A. Ringhand).

National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, $8,346 (Award Number 0350416). 2004-2005.

• Printer-friendly version

Books

Boyd, Christina L., Paul M. Collins, Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2023. Supreme Bias: Gender and Race in U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha. 2019. The President and the Supreme Court: Going Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2013. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings and Constitutional Change. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2008. Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Boyd, Christina L., Paul M. Collins, Jr., Lori A. Ringhand, and Karson Pennington. 2023. “Constructing the Current Supreme Court: How Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Have Affected Presidential Selection and Senate Confirmation Hearings.” Polity 55(2): 400-409.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha. 2022. “The Supreme Court, the President, and Congress: Lawmaking in a Separation of Powers System.” Journal of Law and Courts 10(2): 213-237.

Ringhand Lori A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2021. “Improving the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Role in the Confirmation of Supreme Court Justices.” British Journal of American Legal Studies 10(3): 363-378.

Boyd, Christina L., Paul M. Collins, Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2018. “The Role of Nominee Gender and Race at Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings.” Law & Society Review 52(4): 871-901.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2018. “The Use of Amicus Curiae Briefs.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 14: 219-237.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2018. “Reputational Rankings of Peer Reviewed Law Journals: A Survey Approach.” PS: Political Science & Politics 51(2): 377-386.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lauren A. McCarthy. 2017. “Friends and Interveners: Interest Group Litigation in a Comparative Context.” Journal of Law and Courts 5(1): 55-80.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2016. “The Institutionalization of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings.” Law & Social Inquiry 41(1): 126-151.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., Pamela C. Corley, and Jesse Hamner. 2015. “The Influence of Amicus Curiae Briefs on U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Content.” Law & Society Review 49(4): 917-944.

Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew, and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2015. “Presidential Rhetoric and Supreme Court Decisions.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 45(4): 633-652.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Wendy L. Martinek. 2015. "Judges and Friends: The Influence of Amici Curiae on U.S. Court of Appeals Judges." American Political Research 43(2): 255-282.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., Pamela C. Corley, and Jesse Hamner. 2014. “Me Too? An Investigation of Repetition in U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Curiae Briefs.” Judicature 97(5): 228-234.

Blackstone, Bethany, and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2014. “Strategy and the Decision to Dissent on the U.S. Courts of Appeals.”Justice System Journal 35(3): 239-256.

Batta, Anna, Paul M. Collins, Jr., Tom Miles, and Lori A. Ringhand. 2012. “Let’s Talk: Judicial Decisions at Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings.” Judicature 96(1): 7-15.

Calvin, Bryan, Paul M. Collins, Jr., and Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha. 2011. “On the Relationship between Public Opinion and Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Political Research Quarterly 64(4): 736-748.

Corley, Pamela C., Paul M. Collins, Jr., and Bryan Calvin. 2011. “Lower Court Influence on U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Content.” Journal of Politics 73(1): 31-44.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2011. “Cognitive Dissonance on the U.S. Supreme Court.” Political Research Quarterly 64(2): 362-376.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Wendy L. Martinek. 2011. “The Small Group Context: Designated District Court Judges in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 8(1): 177-205.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Wendy L. Martinek. 2010. “Who Participates as Amici Curiae in the U.S. Courts of Appeals?”Judicature 94(3): 128-136.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Wendy L. Martinek. 2010. “Friends of the Circuits: Interest Group Influence on the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Social Science Quarterly 91(2): 397-414.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., Kenneth L. Manning, and Robert A. Carp. 2010. “Gender, Critical Mass, and Judicial Decision Making.”Law & Policy 32(2): 260-281.

Solowiej, Lisa A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2009. “Counteractive Lobbying in the U.S. Supreme Court.” American Politics Research 37(4): 670-699.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2008. “The Consistency of Judicial Choice.” Journal of Politics 70(3): 861-873.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., Daniel A. Norton, Kenneth L. Manning, and Robert A. Carp. 2008. “International Conflicts and Decision Making on the Federal District Courts.” Justice System Journal 29(2): 121-144.

Nicholson, Chris, and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2008. “The Solicitor General’s Amicus Curiae Strategies in the Supreme Court.”American Politics Research 36(3): 382-415.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2008. “Amici Curiae and Dissensus on the U.S. Supreme Court.” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies5(1): 143-170.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2007. “Towards an Integrated Model of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Federalism Decision Making.”Publius: The Journal of Federalism 37(4): 505-531.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lisa A. Solowiej. 2007. “Interest Group Participation, Competition, and Conflict in the U.S. Supreme Court.” Law & Social Inquiry 32(4): 955-984.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2007. “Lobbyists before the U.S. Supreme Court: Investigating the Influence of Amicus Curiae Briefs.”Political Research Quarterly 60(1): 55-70.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2004. “Friends of the Court: Examining the Influence of Amicus Curiae Participation in U.S. Supreme Court Litigation.” Law & Society Review 38(4): 807-832.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2004. “Variable Voting Behavior on the Supreme Court: A Preliminary Analysis and Research Framework.” Justice System Journal 25(1): 57-74.

Law Review Articles

Ringhand, Lori A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2018. “Neil Gorsuch and the Ginsburg Rules.” Chicago-Kent Law Review 92(3): 475-504.

Ringhand, Lori A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2013. “Functioning Just Fine: The Unappreciated Value of the Supreme Court Confirmation Process.” Drake Law Review 61(4): 1025-1048.

Ringhand, Lori A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2011. “May It Please the Senate: An Empirical Analysis of the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings of Supreme Court Nominees, 1939-2009.” American University Law Review 60(3): 589-641.

Flatt, Victor B., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2009. “Environmental Enforcement in Dire Straits: There is No Protection for Nothing and No Data for Free.” Notre Dame Law Review 85(1): 55-87.

Book Chapters

Tariq, Imtashal, and Paul M. Collins, Jr. Forthcoming. “The Nomination and Confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justices.” In Research Handbook on Judicial Politics, eds. Michael P. Fix and Matthew Montgomery. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Artemus Ward. 2023. “The Legacy of Justice Stephen Breyer: Pragmatic Moderate in an Era of Conservative Courts.” In SCOTUS 2022: Major Decisions and Developments of the U.S. Supreme Court, ed. Morgan Marietta. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Rebecca Hamlin. 2021. “Hernández v. Mesa on Rights and Restitution for Victims of Excessive Force at the Border.” In SCOTUS 2020: Major Decisions and Developments of the U.S. Supreme Court, ed. Morgan Marietta. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2019. “Creating Databases in Sociolegal Research: The U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Database.” In Research Handbook on Law and Courts, eds. Susan M. Sterett and Lee D. Walker. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

ben-Aaron, James, Paul M. Collins, Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2017. “The Selection of U.S. Supreme Court Justices.” In The Routledge Handbook of Judicial Behavior, eds. Robert M. Howard and Kirk A. Randazzo. New York, NY: Routledge.

Perkins, Jared, and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2017. “Interest Groups and the Judiciary.” In The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Judicial Behavior, eds. Lee Epstein and Stefanie A. Lindquist. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2013. “Interest Groups in the Judicial Arena.” In New Directions in Interest Group Politics, ed. Matt Grossmann. New York, NY: Routledge.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2012. “Interest Groups and Their Influence on Judicial Policy.” In New Directions in Judicial Politics, ed. Kevin T. McGuire. New York, NY: Routledge. 

Other Publications

Reid, Rebecca A., Paul M. Collins, Jr., Todd A. Curry, Rebecca D. Gill, and Michael K. Romano. 2020. “Inclusivity in Law and Courts.” Law & Courts 30(1): 8-14.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2015. “Finishing the Dissertation: Advice for Graduate Students and Faculty Mentors.” Law & Courts 24(2): 7-10.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2013. “Introducing The U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Database.”Law & Courts 23(3): 14-16.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2012. “The Contributions of Psychology to Law and Courts Research.” Law & Courts 22(3): 6-12.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2008. “Transforming the United States Courts of Appeals Databases in Stata.” Law & Courts 18(1): 19-22.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2006. “Transforming the Original U.S. Supreme Court Judicial Database: An Alternative Approach for use with Stata.” Law & Courts 16(1): 22-24.

Popular Press Articles

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha. 2023. “Trump’s Latest Personal Attacks on Judges Could Further Weaken People’s Declining Trust in American Rule of Law,” The Conversation, April 6.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Artemus Ward. 2022. “Why Have so Many Americans Come to Mistrust the Supreme Court?,” Washington Post, September 30.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Artemus Ward. 2022. “After Roe’s Overturning, Americans are Demanding Supreme Court Term Limits,” The Conversation, July 28.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2022. “Justice Breyer Announced he will Retire. Here’s what Happens Next,” Washington Post, January 27.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Artemus Ward. 2022. “The Moderate, Pragmatic legacy of Stephen Breyer,” The Conversation, January 27.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Artemus Ward. 2022. “Stephen Breyer is Set to Retire – Should his Replacement on the Supreme Court have a Term Limit?,” The Conversation, January 26.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Artemus Ward. 2021. “Should the Supreme Court have Term Limits?,” The Conversation, July 6.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2020. “How Conservative Groups will Advance their Agendas before a Supreme Court with Amy Coney Barrett,” The Conversation, October 19.

Collins, Paul M., Jr. 2020. “Amy Coney Barrett was Next-level Evasive,” New York Daily News, October 16.

Boyd, Christina L., Paul M. Collins, Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2020. “Senators Treat Female Supreme Court Nominees Differently. Here’s the Evidence,” Washington Post, September 29.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha. 2020. “Trump Attacked the Supreme Court Again. Here are 4 Things to Know,” Washington Post, February 27.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2018. “Interruptions at Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Have Been Rising Since the 1980s,” The Conversation, October 4.

Ringhand, Lori A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2018. “The ‘Ginsburg Rule’ is Not an Excuse to Avoid Answering the Senate’s Questions,” Washington Post, July 9.

Ringhand, Lori A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2017. “Why Not Limit Neil Gorsuch — and All Supreme Court Justices — to 18-year Terms?,” Washington Post, March 23.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2017. “Gorsuch is Allowed to Answer Questions. He Should Start,” Slate, March 22.

Ringhand, Lori A., and Paul M. Collins, Jr. 2016. “The Evolution of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings,” SCOTUSBlog, March 25.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2016. “The Top Five Supreme Court Nomination Myths,” Slate, March 24.

Collins, Paul M., Jr., and Lori A. Ringhand. 2016. “What Two Legal Scholars Learned from Studying 70 Years of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings,” The Conversation, March 21.

• Printer-friendly version