Princeton University

Specialization: Public Law; American Political Development; Institutional Change; Courts and Public Policy

Sarah Staszak studies and teaches on the role of the institutional judiciary in American politics. Her recently defended doctoral project (September 2009), "The Politics of Judicial Retrenchment," examines the efforts of political and legal actors to constrict judicial authority and access to the courts since the rights revolution. By examining attacks upon the critical œinstitutional mechanisms of the judiciary that govern access to the courts, procedures for how claims are adjudicated, and remedies, her analysis demonstrates that the groups involved in judicial retrenchment change over time and are motivated by more than partisan backlash; that the processes of retrenchment are distinctive but not static, unfolding in a series of methods for attempted change; that the availability of malleable institutional rules enhances the likelihood of success; and that the processes of development sow the seeds for subsequent retrenchment. More broadly, the project seeks to add the literature on institutional change by stressing the value of malleable, institutional rules as vehicles for reform.

PhD, Brandeis University (2010)

Link to: Personal Web site