Political Science Faculty

Ken I. Kersch

Professor

Profile

Ken Kersch is professor of political science. His primary interests are American political and constitutional development, American political thought, and the politics of courts. Kersch is the recipient of the American Political Science Association's Edward S. Corwin Award, the J. David Greenstone Prize from APSA's politics and history section, the C. Herman Pritchett Award from APSA鈥檚 law and courts section, and the Hughes-Gossett Award from the Supreme Court Historical Society.

Professor Kersch has published many articles in academic, intellectual, and popular journals. He is the author of five books: American Political Thought: An Invitation (Polity, 2021), Conservatives and the Constitution: Imagining Constitutional Restoration in the Heyday of American Liberalism (Cambridge University Press, 2019)(named a Choice 鈥淥utstanding Academic Title鈥), The Supreme Court and American Political Development (University Press of Kansas, 2006) (with Ronald Kahn), Constructing Civil Liberties: Discontinuities in the Development of American Constitutional Law (Cambridge University Press, 2004), and Freedom of Speech: Rights and Liberties Under the Law (A蜜桃传媒-Clio, 2003).

Professor Kersch is member of the bar of New York, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. He received his B.A. (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) from Williams College, his J.D. (cum laude and Order of the Coif) from Northwestern University, and his Ph.D. in government from Cornell University.

Work-in-Progress:

The Right Rights: The Conservative Encounter with Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 1954-1980聽(book manuscript).

Conservatives and the Constitution

in which I describe the core argument of my award-winning book聽Conservatives and the Constitution: Imagining Constitutional Restoration in the Heyday of American Liberalism聽(Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Sample Syllabi: