The Supreme Court in a Polarized Age
A Conversation with
Kevin McMahon
John R. Reitemeyer Professor of Political Science
Moderated by
Maura Thompson ’21
In its 2019-20 term, the Supreme Court handed down some seemingly surprising decisions. We’ll consider the most notable of those decisions, the significance of the Court and judicial issues in the upcoming election, and the place of this Supreme Court in our polarized democracy.
Kevin J. McMahon is the John R. Reitemeyer Professor of Political Science. His research mainly examines the presidency and the political origins and consequences of Supreme Court decisions. He is currently working on a book entitled, Uncertain Legitimacy: The Supreme Court in the Age of Trump. In 2014, the Supreme Court Historical Society selected his book, Nixon’s Court: His Challenge to Judicial Liberalism and Its Political Consequences (University of Chicago Press, 2011), for its rarely-awarded Erwin N. Griswold Book Prize. Nixon’s Court was also chosen as a 2012 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title. Professor McMahon's first book, Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown (Chicago, 2004), won the American Political Science Association’s Richard E. Neustadt Award for the best book published that year on the American presidency. He is also the co-author/co-editor of three books on the presidency and presidential elections and author of numerous book chapters and journal articles.
Professor McMahon earned his PhD at Brandeis University in 1997. As an advanced graduate student, he taught for two years in Russia with the Civic Education Project (a.k.a., the “academic Peace Corps”). In the classroom, his teaching style is Socratic in spirit, driven by a philosophy that students perform best when they are asked to actively participate in their own learning.
Maura Thompson is a rising senior from Shelburne, Vermont and is receiving her degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. Next year, she will be writing her thesis on the rise of the Evangelical Religious Right within American politics through historical analysis of varying presidential campaigns. On campus, Maura is the president of her a capella group, a tour guide for Trinity Admissions, and member of her sorority, The Stella Society. This summer, she is interning for Practera, an educational technology company. She is also doing political science research for Professor McMahon.
