Public Law
Princeton ’s current program in public law is perhaps the most diverse and deepest in the country. The research community in public law includes a large number of faculty and students working on questions of law, courts, and constitutionalism from a wide range of theoretical, methodological and substantive perspectives. The program is particularly strong in jurisprudence, constitutional theory, American constitutional politics and history, judicial politics, and law and society, but also supports work in comparative law and constitutionalism, and international law.
The Department sponsors a speaker series, the Public Law Colloquium, which brings to Princeton scholars from other universities who work in the field of public law.
The James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions provides a focus for research in philosophy of law and constitutional studies. It supports graduate student and faculty research projects, and hosts visiting scholars.
The Program in Law and Public Affairs (LAPA), a joint venture of the Woodrow Wilson School and the University Center for Human Values seeks to promote the interdisciplinary study of law. It sponsors teaching, research, public discussions and scholarly collaborations which examine the ways in which legal systems, practices and concepts contribute to justice, order, individual well-being and the common good. LAPA offers fellowships to graduate students pursuing research in pertinent topics in law and public affairs.
The faculty members who specialize in public law are: Robert George, Jonathan Kastellec, and Keith Whittington.
Other faculty who have related research and teaching interests include: Gary Bass, Charles Beitz, Charles Cameron, Brandice Canes-Wrone, Paul Frymer, Stephen Macedo, Andrew Moravcsik,Philip Pettit, Thomas Romer, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Jennifer Widner.
The department also benefits from the presence on campus of an active interdisciplinary research community interested in legal questions, with relevant faculty in Anthropology, Economics, History, Literature, Philosophy, and Sociology.