Artemus Ward

Artemus Ward is political science professor and faculty associate at the College of Law at Northern Illinois University. He received his doctorate 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 he has been featured on NBC Nightly News, Fox News, C-SPAN and by The New York Times, The Associated Press and the New Republic. He has twice won the Hughes-Gossett Prize for historical excellence by the Supreme Court Historical Society. His books include “American Judicial Process: Myth and Reality in Law and Courts” (2015), “The Puzzle of Unanimity: Consensus on the United States Supreme Court” (2013), “Sorcerers’ Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the U.S. Supreme Court” (2006) and “Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement at the U.S. Supreme Court” (2003). Ward teaches introduction to American politics, mass media and American politics, American presidential elections, constitutional law, civil rights, civil liberties, judicial politics, law and film, law and baseball, politics and popular music and political humor. He periodically offers experiential learning courses such as taking students to Washington, D.C. for a weeklong advanced seminar on American politics and summer study abroad courses at Oriel College, Oxford University. His research projects include a book manuscript on dissents in the U.S. Supreme Court with Pam Corley and a project on the Supreme Court and judicial minimalism with Mitch Pickerill.