Paul M. Collins Jr.

Paul M. Collins, Jr. is Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research focuses on understanding bias and inequality in the legal system, the selection and work of judges, social movement litigation, and how people experience the law.

The recipient of numerous research awards, he has 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. His research has been funded by grants from the Dirksen Congressional Center and the National Science Foundation. He was a member of the editorial boards of the Justice System Journal, Law & Social Inquiry, Law & Society Review, and Political Research Quarterly. His 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. He has also authored articles in SCOTUSblog, Slate, The Conversation, The New York Daily News, and the Washington Post.

Collins is also the author of four books. Supreme Bias: Gender and Race in U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, coauthored with Christina L. Boyd and Lori A. Ringhand, was published in 2023 by Stanford University Press. 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. 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. 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.