I am an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center, and also an affiliated faculty member in the University of Houston Department of Political Science, with scholarly interests in the separation of powers, administrative law, election law, and democratic and constitutional theory. My research examines the structure of government and of the democratic process, drawing on political science, political economy, and analysis of the text and structure of the Constitution. My scholarship has been accepted for publication in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and the Yale Journal on Regulation, among other journals.
I received a B.A. from Columbia University in 2015, a J.D. from Yale Law School in 2022, and a Ph.D. in Political Science (awarded departmental distinction and university distinction) from Yale University in 2024. My dissertation was awarded the Leonard D. White Award from the American Political Science Association for the best dissertation in the field of public administration.
In addition to other ongoing projects, I am completing a book manuscript, titled Madison’s Mistake: Restoring the Separation of Powers, that develops a new conceptual and normative theory of the separation of powers as a government structure that can reinforce rather than vitiate legislative supremacy. It argues that the separation of powers institutionalizes a deliberative moment in the governance process—but one that is downstream of the legislative process. The book identifies distinctive democratic justifications for a variety of government institutions—including the separation of powers, administrative insulation from political control, and administrative due process protections—that have more familiarly been defended on liberal grounds.