Artemus Ward

Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
405 Zulauf Hall
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115-2854
815-753-7041
aeward@niu.edu

American Politics, Public Law (Judicial Politics, Constitutional Law, the U.S. Supreme Court, Law & Film, Law & Baseball), Historical Institutionalism, Qualitative Methodology

• Curriculum Vitae
• SSRN Working Papers

Recent Media Appearances:

• "Supreme Court Justice William Douglas Sure Loved His Books," The Atlantic, April 7, 2013.
• "Will Justice Kennedy Strike Down California's Gay Marriage Ban?" Yahoo! News, March 21, 2013. 
• "Author Panel on the Supreme Court," Book TV, C-SPAN2, December 1, 2012 4:15pm EST; December 3, 2012 6:45am EST; December 25, 2012 10:45pm EST; January 13, 2013 6:00am EST. 
• "Jessie Jackson Jr. Resigns - How Was He Re-Elected?" WGN Radio News @ 3:00pm, November 21, 2012
• "Jessie Jackson Jr. Resigns After Winning Re-Election," WGN Radio News @ 1:30pm, November 21, 2012
• "Electing a Supreme Court," National Law Journal, October 20, 2012.
• "Supreme Court Book Fair," Supreme Court Institute, Georgetown University School of Law, October 22, 2012.
• Coverage of Supreme Court's health care decision - National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, WBBM Newsradio, Chicago, IL, June 28, 2012.
• "May I Suggest a Few Revisions? How Supreme Court Justices - and Their Clerks - Actually Write Opinions," Slate.com, June 26, 2012.
• "Supreme Court Hiring Watch: The Justices are Done for 2012," Above the Law Blog, June 14, 2012.
• "New Book Scrutinizes Justices and Law Clerks," National Law Journal, April 11, 2012.
• "Behind the Bench," University of Virginia Press Blog, March 27, 2012.
• "The High Court's Ghosts," US News Weekly, March 2, 2012.
• "Contraceptives Policy Raises Controversy," Northern Star, February 19, 2012.
• "Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Egypt: Admires Arab Spring," Greeley Gazette, February 6, 2012. 
• "Justice Ginsburg Not Leaving Court 'Anytime Soon'," Associated Press, July 2, 2011.
• "Second Lives: For These Former Justices, Retirement is No Day at the Beach," American Bar Association Journal, July 1, 2011.
• "New State Laws Take Effect This Year," Northern Star, January 24, 2011. 
• "Courtside: For Perhaps the First Time Former Clerks Take Seats in the Senate," National Law Journal, November 15, 2010. 
• "NYU Press Book Leads Research on Supreme Court Clerks," From the Square, September 7, 2010.
• "The Roberts Court - A Sign of the Court's Polarization: Choice of Clerks," New York Times, September 6, 2010.
• "A Well-Traveled Path From Ivy League to Supreme Court," New York Times, September 6, 2010.
• "What Will Anthony Kennedy Do on Gay Marriage," Slate.com, August 13, 2010.
• "PBS Focuses on Syracuse," Syracuse Post-Standard, August 12, 2010.
• "Kagan and the Cert Pool," C-K Faculty Blog, June 7, 2010.
• "Stevens Becomes 2nd Sitting Justice to Turn 90," Associated Press, April 19, 2010. 
• "Stevens Puts Spotlight on High Court Exit Strategy," Congressional Quarterly Weekly, April 10, 2010.
• "Court's Liberal Lion Steps Down," Politico, April 10, 2010.
• "Shapiro on Law Clerks & Ideology on the Supreme Court," Legal Theory Blog, April 8, 2010. 
• "Law Clerks at the Supreme Court," Market Design, February 3, 2010. 
• "Disenclerking the Supreme Court," The Volokh Conspiracy, January 22, 2010.
• "Shedding Tiers--Look out, Harvard: Seton Hall Grad Makes It to Clerk Status," ABA Journal, October 2009.
• "Is Justice Stevens Planning to Retire?" Associated Press, September 2, 2009.
• "Hiding Behind the Robes: If Law Clerks Do Not Exercise Undue Influence, Why All the Secrecy?" The National Law Journal, August 10, 2009.
• "Corley, Sommer, and Ward on Plurality Decisions in the Supreme Court," Legal Theory Blog, July 20, 2009. 
• "Souter's Retirement Timing: Was it Age or Politics," The National Law Journal, May 6, 2009.
• "Does Souter's Silence on Hiring Mean He's Leaving? " Associated Press, April 30, 2009.
• "Daschle Withdrawal Controversy," Northern Star, February 3, 2009.
• "Justice Stevens Shows No Signs He is Ready to Quit," Associated Press, November 29, 2008.
• "Despite Victory, Status Quo at the Supreme Court?" Legal Times, November 10, 2008.
• "For the Supreme Court, a Term of Change Ahead," Legal Times, October 6, 2008.
• "What Does the Cert Pool Say About the Power of SCOTUS Clerks?" Wall Street Journal Law Blog, September 26, 2008.
• "CELS 2008 Report," PrawfsBlawg, September 15, 2008.
• "Overturned Handgun Ban Could Have a Nationwide Impact," Northern Star, July 7, 2008.
• "Ward on Alito's Confirmation Hearings," Legal Theory Blog, January 4, 2008.
• "Brief Contemplations," Zenpundit, October 24, 2007.
• "Supreme Court Clerks $250,000 Clerkship Bonuses," Wall Street Journal Law Blog, June 18, 2007.
• "Highest Court to Get Case," Northwest Herald, December 9, 2006
• "Roberts and Alito Stay in the Cert Pool," Legal Times, September 25, 2006.
• "Roberts and Alito Skinnydipping in the Cert Pool," Above the Law Blog, September 21, 2006
• "Afternoon Magazine," NPR Affiliate, WILL-AM Radio, June 21, 2006.
• "A Ward By Any Other Name," Luke Gilman's Blawg, June 11, 2006.
• "The Clerk Conundrum," Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2006.
• "High Court Clerks: Still White, Still Male," Legal Times, May 25, 2006.
• "Bush Administration Shake-Up Not a Surprise," Northern Star, April 25, 2006.
• "The Secret Life of a Clerk," Northern Star, April 12, 2006.
• "Ben's Chili Bowl v. White House Chefs: Ben Wins," Empirical Legal Studies Blog, March 8, 2006.
• "Hollywood Back Lot Meets Ivory Tower," Empirical Legal Studies Blog, March 6, 2006.
• "Justice Alito Hires Truted Conservatives," Associated Press, February 15, 2006.
• "JFK's Murder Shook Campus in 1963," Northern Star, November 22, 2005.
• "Bush Gambles on Miers," Associated Press, October 3, 2005.
• "Judge Sent on to Full Senate: Roberts Approved 13-5 by Judiciary," The Daily Tar Heel, September 23, 2005.
• "Sandra Day O'Connor Prepares for Final Days on Supreme Court," Associated Press, September 19, 2005.
• "Roberts Nominated to Replace O'Connor," Northern Star, July 26, 2005.
• "Democrats Demand Specifics From Nominee," NBC Nightly News, July 5, 2005.
• "The Politics of Retirement From the Supreme Court: Reflections of a Court Watcher," The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1, 2005.

Overview of scholarly activity

Artemus Ward is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University. He received his Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1999 and worked as a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC. His research focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court and has been featured on NBC Nightly News, Fox News, C-SPAN and in the New York Times, Associated Press, and the New Republic. Art is currently teaching American politics, presidential elections, constitutional law, judicial politics, law & film, law & baseball, and politics & popular music. Each spring he takes students to Washingto, DC for a week-long advanced seminar on American politics and periodically offers a summer course on comparative law and courts at Oriel College, Oxford University. His current research projects include an edited volume on the U.S. Chief Justice with David J. Danelski, a judicial process textbook with Pam Corley and Wendy Martinek, and a project on the Supreme Court and judicial review with Mitch Pickerill.

Selected publications:

• The Chief Justice: Appointment and Influence (edited with David J. Danelski), University of Michigan Press, under contract.
• The Puzzle of Unanimity: Consensus on the United States Supreme Court (with P. Corley and A. Steigerwalt), Stanford University Press, 2013.
• In Chambers: Stories of Supreme Court Law Clerks and Their Justices (edited with T. Peppers), University of Virginia Press, 2012.
• "Extreme Dissensus: Explaining Plurality Decisions on the United States Supreme Court," Justice System Journal, (with P. Corley, U. Sommer, and A. Steigerwalt), 2010.
• "'Get a Life!': On Interviewing Law Clerks," Justice System Journal, (with S. Wasby), 2010 .  
• "'Good Old Number Three Club' Gets a New Member," Journal of Supreme Court History, 2008
• "Sorcerers' Apprentices: U.S. Supreme Court Law Clerks," Exploring Judicial Politics. Oxford Press, 2008
• "Lyndon Johnson and the Fall of the Warren Court," White House Studies Compendium, Vol. 2. Nova Science Publishers, 2007.
• Sorcerers’ Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court (with D. Weiden). New York University Press, 2006
• "How One Mistake Leads To Another: On the Importance of Verification/Replication," Political Analysis, 2004
• Deciding To Leave: The Politics of Retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court. State University of New York Press, 2003

Teaching

Graduate Courses:

• Judicial Politics
• Qualitative Research Methods

Undergraduate Courses:

• Introduction to American Politics
  • Lectures: Federalists v. Anti-Federalists: Ratifying the U.S. Constitution; The U.S. Constitution: Underlying Principles; Political Parties; Congress: How a Bill Really Becomes a Law; The U.S. Supreme Court: Behind the Velvet Curtain
• American Presidential Elections
  • Lectures: Presidential Nomination Process; Financing Presidential Campaigns; 1992 Presidential Election; Electoral College; 2000 Presidential Election; 2004 Presidential Election; 2008 Presidential Election; 2012 Presidential Election; 2016 Presidential Election. 

• Mass Media and American Politics
  • Lectures: Media Power and Government Control: An Introduction to Media & Politics; Media Ownership and Regulation; Freedom of the Press; Prior Restraint; Libel; News Outlets and their Audiences: Enhancing or Limiting Political Freedom; New Imperatives: Reporting Routines and Biases; Media as Policy Makers; Alternative News Sources: Comedy; Alternative News Sources: Music; Going Negataive: Campaigning Through Media; Going Public: Governing Through Media. 
• Judicial Politics
  • Lectures: Courts, Politics, and Justice; Legal Profession I; Legal Profession II; Organization of Courts; Choosing Judges I; Choosing Judges II; Civil Procedure; Criminal Procedure; Trials; Appeals; Judicial Decision Making.  
• Politics and Film
  • Lectures: Introduction: Politics & Film (2010); The Birth of a Nation (1915); Gone With the Wind (1939); The Song of the South (1946); The Color Purple (1985); The Help (2011); Thirteen Days (2000); W. (2008); His Girl Friday (1940); Citizen Kane (1941); All the President's Men (1976); Nixon (1995); Frost-Nixon (2008); Fletch (1985); Broadcast News (1987); Shattered Glass (2003); North by Northwest (1959); The Good Shepherd (2006); Burn After Reading (2008).
• Constitutional Law I: Separation of Powers, Federalism, & Economic Liberty
• Constitutional Law II: Civil Rights--Race, Sex, and Sexual Orientation Discrimination
• Constitutional Law III: Civil Liberties--Religion, Speech, Guns, and Privacy
• Law, Politics, and Baseball
  • Lectures: - Origins and Birth of Baseball; - Foundations of Racial Discrimination: From Slavery to Jim Crow; - Negro League Baseball; - Baseball Vice: Gambling; - Breaking the Color Barrier: The Death of the Negro Leagues; - Baseball Monopoly; - Women Ballplayers; - Curt Flood, Collective Bargaining and the Struggle for Free Agency; - Modern Baseball and the Struggle to Integrate; - The Modern Business of Baseball: Commissioners, Collusion, and Contraction; - Baseball Vice: Drugs; - Women Who Run the Game; - The Future of Baseball: What Should Be Done and Why.
• Law and Film
  • Lectures: Introduction: Law, Politics, & Film; Rebecca (1940); A Place in the Sun (1951); Vertigo (1958); Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989); The Big Sleep (1946); The Big Lebowski (1998); Chinatown (1974); Blade Runner (1982); Kramer v. Kramer (1979); Manhattan (1979); Intolerable Cruelty (2003); Adam's Rib (1949); Class Action (1991);  Primal Fear (1996); Thelma and Louise (1991). 

Study Abroad Courses:

• Comparative Law & Courts: Social Change - Oriel College, Oxford University
  • "NIU Oxford 2011: Study Abroad at Oriel College, Oxford University," PowerPoint Presentation, Northern Illinois University
• Small Group Seminar: Politics & Government in Washington, DC
  • "Study Politics & Government over Spring Break in Washington, DC" PowerPoint Presentation, Northern Illinois University

Recent Invited Lectures:

• "George Washington and the Limits of Power," Bill of Rights Institute, Milwaukee Friends Meeting House, Milwaukee, WI, August 24, 2010.
• "Alexander Hamilton: American Visionary," Bill of Rights Institute, Milwaukee Friends Meeting House, Milwaukee, WI, August 24, 2010.
• "The Founders on Civic Participation," Bill of Rights Institute, Milwaukee Friends Meeting House, Milwaukee, WI, August 24, 2010.
• "Thomas Paine: Master Propagandist," Bill of Rights Institute, Milwaukee Friends Meeting House, Milwaukee, WI, August 23, 2010.
• "Natural Rights: An Evolving Concept," Bill of Rights Institute, Milwaukee Friends Meeting House, Milwaukee, WI, August 23, 2010.
• "The Declaration of Independence: Origins," Bill of Rights Institute, Milwaukee Friends Meeting House, Milwaukee, WI, August 23, 2010.
• "Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and the Politics of Supreme Court Appointments," Clare Oaks Retirement Community, Bartlett, IL, July 7, 2010.
• "Foundations of Racial Discrimination: From Slavery to Jim Crow," Bill of Rights Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, September 15, 2009.
• "Battle for Equality: New-Deal Discrimination, the NAACP, and Brown," Bill of Rights Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, September 15, 2009.
• "Modern Applications of Equal Protection and Affirmative Action," Bill of Rights Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, September 15, 2009.
• "Historical and Philosophical Roots of the Founding," Bill of Rights Institute, Prarie State College-Matteson Campus, Matteson, IL, March 19, 2009.
• "Federalists, Anti-Federalists, and the Constitution," Bill of Rights Institute, Prarie State College-Matteson Campus, Matteson, IL, March 19, 2009.
• "Incorporation: Applying the Bill of Rights to the States," Bill of Rights Institute, Prarie State College-Matteson Campus, Matteson, IL, March 19, 2009.
• "Foundations of Racial Discrimination: From Slavery to Jim Crow," Bill of Rights Institute, Grand Wayne Convention Center, Fort Wayne, IN, March 17, 2009.
• "Battle for Equality: New-Deal Discrimination, the NAACP, and Brown," Bill of Rights Institute, Grand Wayne Convention Center, Fort Wayne, IN, March 17, 2009.
• "Modern Applications of Equal Protection and Affirmative Action," Bill of Rights Institute, Grand Wayne Convention Center, Fort Wayne, IN, March 17, 2009.
• "The 2008 Presidential Election & the Future of the U.S. Supreme Court," Institute for Continued Learning, Roosevelt University, Schaumberg, IL, March 4, 2009.
• "Incorporation: Applying the Bill of Rights to the States," Bill of Rights Institute, York County Heritage Trust Historical Society Museum, York, PA, October 30, 2008.
• "Search and Seizure: Evolving Standards," Bill of Rights Institute, York County Heritage Trust Historical Society Museum, York, PA, October 30, 2008.
• "The Death Penalty: Cruel and Unusual Punishment?" Bill of Rights Institute, York County Heritage Trust Historical Society Museum, York, PA, October 30, 2008.
• "The Declaration of Independence: Origins," Bill of Rights Institute, Drury Lane Conference Center, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, October 2, 2008.
• "The U.S. Constitution: Underlying Principles," Bill of Rights Institute, Drury Lane Conference Center, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, October 2, 2008.
• "The U.S. Presidential Election Process: Undemocratic?" Bill of Rights Institute, Drury Lane Conference Center, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, October 2, 2008.
• "The Founders on Civic Engagement," Bill of Rights Institute, Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC, September 30, 2008.
• "Personal Liberty & the Right to Privacy," Bill of Rights Institute, Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC, September 30, 2008.
• "Civic Engagement in Today's World," Bill of Rights Institute, Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC, September 30, 2008.
• "Prior Restraint: The Government v. The Press," Bill of Rights Institute & Cortopassi seminars for teachers, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA, March 4, 2008.
• "Incitement: The Evolution of Political Speech in the U.S. Supreme Court," Bill of Rights Institute & Cortopassi seminars for teachers, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA, March 4, 2008.
• "Incorporation: Applying the Bill of Rights to the States," Bill of Rights Institute & Cortopassi seminars for teachers, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA, March 4, 2008.
• "Challenges to Liberty: The U.S. Constitution and Political Speech," Bill of Rights Institute, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS, February 19, 2008; Bicentennial Center, Salina, KS, February 21, 2008.
• "Banned Books," Bill of Rights Institute, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS, February 19, 2008; Bicentennial Center, Salina, KS, February 21, 2008.
• "Liberty and Security: Executive Authority in Times of War," Bill of Rights Institute, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS, February 19, 2008; Bicentennial Center, Salina, KS, February 21, 2008.
• "The U.S. Supreme Court and 21st Century Freedom," New Ideas in History conference, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, October 22, 2007.
• "Challenges to Liberty: The U.S. Constitution and Political Speech," Bill of Rights Institute, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS, October 15, 2007.
• "Banned Books," Bill of Rights Institute, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS, October 15, 2007.
• "Liberty and Security: Executive Authority in Times of War," Bill of Rights Institute, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS, October 15, 2007.
• "The Founders on Personal and National Integrity: George Washington & Aaron Burr," Bill of Rights Institute, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, October 11, 2007.
• "The Founders on Respect for Religious Belief," Bill of Rights Institute, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, October 11, 2007.
• "Citizenship and the Constitution: Civic Engagement," Bill of Rights Institute, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, October 11, 2007.
• "Federalists v. Anti-Federalists on Whether We Needed a Bill of Rights," Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee, WI, August 6, 2007.
• "The Supreme Court and the Creation of a Bill of Rights," Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee, WI, August 6, 2007.
• "Federalism," Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee, WI, August 6, 2007.
• "The U.S. Supreme Court: Behind the Velvet Curtain," Institute for Continued Learning, Roosevelt Univeristy, February 28, 2007.
• "NIU Oxford: Study Abroad at Oriel College, Oxford University," Northern Illinois University, February, 2007.
• "The Disputed Election of 1800: The First Constitutional Crisis and the Triumph of Statesmanship Over Legalism," Elderhostel, Northern Illinois University, September 24-29, 2006.
• "Judicial Review: Stuart v. Laird, Marbury v. Madison,and the Marshall Court's Accomodation of the Jeffersonian Political Regime," Elderhostel, Northern Illinois University, September 24-29, 2006.
• "Federalism and the Founders: Hamilton v. Jefferson and McCullough v. Maryland," Elderhostel, Northern Illinois University, September 24-29, 2006.
• "Incorporation of the Bill of Rights," Elderhostel, Northern Illinois University, September 24-29, 2006.
• "Commerce Clause: Secret Weapon of the United States Congress," Elderhostel, Northern Illinois University, September 24-29, 2006.
• "The Capitol Hill Experience: How a Bill Really Becomes a Law," The Dirksen Congressional Center’s annual Congress in the Classroom workshop for high school and middle school teachers, Peoria, IL, July 31-August 3, 2006.
• "Political Speech: Tinker v.Des Moines and Texas v. Johnson," The Bill of Rights Institute seminar for middle school teachers, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL , April 24, 2006.
• "Free Exercise of Religion," The Bill of Rights Institute seminar for middle school teachers, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL, April 24, 2006.
• "Religious Establishment," The Bill of Rights Institute seminar of middle school teachers, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL, April 24, 2006.
• "Chief Justice John Roberts and the Future of the U.S. Supreme Court," Friends of the Northern Illinois University Libraries Speaker Series, DeKalb, IL , January 17, 2006.
• "Freedom of Speech: Political Speech & Freedom of the Press," The Bill of Rights Institute seminar for middle school teachers, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL, November 7, 2005.
• "The Boundaries of Free Expression: Obscenity," The Bill of Rights Institute seminar for high school teachers, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL, November 7, 2005.