She joined the department in 2002 after teaching at Washington University in St. Louis. She received the MA and PhD from SUNY Stony Brook and her BA from California State University Long Beach. Her research and teaching interests focus on judicial politics, especially judicial decision making, the effect of Supreme Court decisions on public opinion, state courts and state legislatures, and reforms to state judicial systems. She is the author of a recent Cambridge University Press book, Public Reaction to Supreme Court Decisions (2003) and has authored or co-authored articles in American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and American Politics Quarterly.