Department of Political Science

Professor Braman received her JD from Fordham University Law School in 1996 and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Ohio State University in 2004. Her book Law Politics and Perception: How Policy Views Influence Legal Reasoning (Charlottesville: University of Virginia 2009) investigates the cognitive processes involved in legal reasoning. In it she explores how policy preferences interact with case facts and accepted legal norms to shape judgments. The book was the Winner of the C. Herman Pritchett Award for best book on Law and Courts in 2009 from the Law and Courts section of the American Political Science Association. Other recent and notable work include, “Normative Legitimacy: Rules of Appropriateness in Citizens’ Assessments of Individual Judicial Decisions” (with Beth Easter Justice System Journal, 2014), “Path Dependence in Studies of Legal Decision Making,” (with Mitch Pickerill) in What’s Law Got to Do With It, Edited by Charles Geyh (Stanford, 2011), “Searching for Constraint in Legal Decision Making,” in The Psychology of Judicial Decision Making, Edited by David Klein and Gregory Mitchell (Oxford, 2010) and “Can a Muslim Represent You?” (with Abdulkader Sinno Politics and Religion, 2009). She has served on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Politics and Justice System Journal. Professor Braman's research interests in American politics include political decision-making (broadly defined), Congress/Court relations and the determinants of public support for government action. Her teaching interests include Constitutional Law, Judicial Process and Political Psychology.