I am an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Political Science at Howard University, where I work on American constitutionalism, civil and voting rights, federalism, and slavery and abolition. I hold a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

My first book, Hidden Laws: How State Constitutions Stabilize American Politics, was published in 2021 by Yale University Press. Using datasets and historical case studies, the book argues that high barriers to national constitutional change have encouraged reformers to instead seek state constitutional revision, addressing national controversies over economic and labor regulations and voting, civil, and gender rights. I am writing a second book, on state-level voting rights rollback, with support from a Steven M. Polan Fellowship from the Brennan Center for Justice, an HBCU Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, and a Kluge Fellowship at the Library of Congress.

My research is also published in The Journal of Politics, Polity, Publius, Studies in American Political Development, The New York University Law Review, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post.