Welcome
I am a Ph.C. in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington. My research interests are Public Law, American Politics, and Public Policy.
Please follow the links to the right and at the top of the page for more information on my current research projects, as well as my teaching and personal interests.
Contact information
Seth W. Greenfest
Department of Political Science
University of Washington
101 Gowen Hall
Box 353530
Seattle, WA 98195-3530
swg2@u.washington.edu
cell: 206-554-1912
office: Smith 19
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Judging the Courts (Autumn 2011)
Research:
The Dynamics of Standing: How Congress and the Supreme Court Determine Access to the Federal Courts (poster presentation at APSA 2011)
Jurisdiction-Granting: Legislative Capacity and Ideological Distance
This study places questions of why federal courts are in a position to make policy decisions in the center of analysis. In contrast to court-centered or behavioralist approaches, the theory presented here argues that Congress has played an integral role in influencing the creation of opportunities for judicial decision making. Congress's influence is felt when it passes jurisdiction-granting legislation. Congress frequently grants jurisdiction to the federal district courts, empowering courts to participate in American politics in part according to these legislatively-structured opportunities. Using an original dataset of jurisdiction-granting laws, two explanations for the passage of jurisdiction-granting legislation are evaluated.
Teaching Experience:
My teaching experience includes solo teaching core courses of interest to Public Law, including Introduction to U.S. Constitutional Law, United States Courts and Civil Liberties, and Law in Society. In addition, I have designed and taught an original course, entitled Judging the Courts, which focuses on introducing students to the basic structure and operation of the federal judiciary as a whole. Students complete a major research project on the political and legal aspects of a Supreme Court case as well as discuss the impact of the case on American politics.
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