Christopher P. Banks

Christopher P. Banks is a professor at Kent State University where he has served as the department’s graduate coordinator for its M.A. and Ph.D. program, and as an affiliate for the Center for Public Administration and Public Policy. Presently, he is the department’s prelaw advisor. He regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the judicial process, constitutional law, civil rights and liberties, law and society, terrorism, and American politics. He holds a J.D. from the University of Dayton and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Before becoming a faculty member at Kent State, Professor Banks practiced law in civil and criminal litigation and was active in local and state politics; in the late 1980’s he was appointed by Connecticut Governor William O’Neill to serve as an administrative hearing officer for the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Professor Banks is the author of the Judicial Politics in the D.C. Circuit Court (John Hopkins University Press, 1999); the co-author of The U.S. Supreme Court and New Federalism: From the Rehnquist to Roberts Court (Lanham: Roman & Littlefield, 2012) and Courts and Judicial Policymaking (Prentice Hall, 2008); and co-editor of the Final Arbiter: The Consequences of Bush v. Gore for Law and Politics (State University of New York Press, 2006) along with Superintending Democracy: The Courts and the Political Process (University of Akron Press, 2001). He has published numerous book chapters, book reviews, and journal articles on judicial behavior, law and politics, federalism, terrorism, and human rights in Justice System Journal, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Judicature, International Journal of Human Rights, Public Integrity: The Journal for the American Society of Public Administration, Social Science Quarterly, Southeastern Political Review, and The Journal of Law & Politics, among others.