Dr. Paul Gardner

Biography

Paul Gardner is an Assistant Professor in Political Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He previously served as a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace at Queen's University Faculty of Law and as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Gardner received his Ph.D. from the Department of Politics at Princeton University. His research and teaching interests broadly encompass American law and politics, focusing on the intersection of political science sub-disciplines, including American institutions, judicial politics, American political development, law and society, and political behavior. His primary research agenda aims to understand the effectiveness of private enforcement statutes as federal laws serve as a primary mechanism for enforcement through private litigation rather than direct bureaucratic action. Gardner examines how various actors, such as presidents, bureaucratic agencies, judges, and interest groups, influence individual decisions to pursue private rights actions, including filing lawsuits. He also studies how public governmental actors respond to Supreme Court decisions and how public preferences shape judicial institutions and legal outcomes.

Research Interests