He specializes in American political institutions with an emphasis on judicial behavior, elite personality, and policy implementation. His book, The Nature of Supreme Court Power (Cambridge University Press, 2011), won the C. Herman Pritchett Award for Best Book on Law and Courts from the American Political Science Association. He has also published numerous articles in leading journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, Public Opinion Quarterly, and the Journal of Law and Courts. He is currently pursuing a variety of research projects, including (1) the role of personality traits in shaping Supreme Court behavior and (2) the influence of institutional design on representation in the American states.