My research centers on American political institutions, with particular focus on the federal judiciary, law and society, and constitutional law. I am passionate about investigating how institutions structure elite and public behavior. In my work as a teacher-scholar, I am motivated to address substantively important topics like elite decision-making, identity and representation in government, and public support for political institutions.

At the embedded links, you may access my CV, conference participations, and Google scholar.

Refereed Articles

• Boston, Joshua, David Carlson, JB Duck-Mayr, & Greg Sasso. "Political Competition and Judicial Independence: How Courts Fill the Void When Legislatures Are Ineffective." Conditionally accepted at Journal of Law & Courts.
• Boston, Joshua & Bernardo S. Silveira. "The Electoral Connection in Court: How Sentencing Responds to Voter Preferences." Forthcoming in Journal of Law & Courts.
• Boston, Joshua, Benjamin Kassow, Ali Masood, & David Miller. 2023. "Your Honor's Misdeeds: The Consequences of Judicial Scandal on Specific and Diffuse Support." PS: Political Science & Politics, 1-6.
• Boston, Joshua. 2020. "Strategic Opinion Language on the U.S. Courts of Appeals." Journal of Law and Courts, 8(1), 1-26.
• Stein, Robert M., Christopher Mann, Charles Stewart III, ... , Joshua Boston, ... , et al. 2020. "Waiting to Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election: Evidence from a Multi-county Study." Political Research Quarterly, 73(2), 439-453.
• Lamb, Charles M., Joshua Boston, & Jacob R. Neiheisel. 2019. "Presidential Rhetoric and Bureaucratic Enforcement: The Clinton Administration and Civil Rights." Political Science Quarterly, 134(2), 277-302.
• Lamb, Charles M., Joshua Boston, & Jacob R. Neiheisel. 2019. "Power Plus Persuasion: The Anatomy of Kennedy's Housing Order." Congress & the Presidency, 46(1), 109-134.
• Boston, Joshua, Jonathan Homola, Betsy Sinclair, Michelle Torres & Patrick Tucker. 2018. "The Dynamic Relationship between Personality Stability and Political Attitudes." Public Opinion Quarterly, 82(S1), 843-865.
• Mann, Christopher B., Gayle A. Alberda, Nathaniel A. Birkhead, ... , Joshua Boston, ... , et al. 2018. "Pedagogical Value of Polling-Place Observation by Students." PS: Political Science & Politics, 51(4), 831 - 837.

Book Chapters

• Boston, Joshua & Dino Hadzic. "Strategic Deference by the European Court of Justice: Understanding Economic Influences on Judicial Decision-Making." In Handbook of Law and Political Systems. Robert Howard, Kirk Randazzo, & Rebecca Reid (Eds.). Elgar Press, forthcoming.
• Stein, Robert, Christopher B. Mann, Charles Stewart III, ... , Joshua Boston, ... , et al. "Polling Place Practices." In The Future of Election Administration. Kathleen Hale & Bridgett A. King (Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.

Working Papers

• Boston, Joshua & Christopher Krewson. "Public Approval of the Supreme Court and Its Implications for Legitimacy."
• Boston, Joshua & Nicholas Waterbury. "Status Quo Reversion Points in Supreme Court Agenda Setting."
• Boston, Joshua. "Collegial Politics and Opinion Writing on the U.S. Courts of Appeals: Dissuading Dissent through Writing Accommodations."
• Boston, Joshua, Patrick Rickert, James F. Spriggs II, & Nicholas Waterbury. "The Curious Case of the Migrating Seat: Understanding the Role of Senate Norms in Confirming Judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals."
• Boston, Joshua & Greg Sasso. "Varieties of Capitalism and Intellectual Property Institutions: Are differences in patent dispute resolutions a byproduct of economic features?"

Works in Progress

• Boston, Joshua & Nicholas Waterbury. "Friends in High Places: How Amici Capitalize on Supreme Court Participation."
• Boston, Joshua, Patrick Rickert, James F. Spriggs II, & Nicholas Waterbury. "Presidential Prerogatives in Federal Judicial Appointments: How Electoral Politics Impact Seat Changes on the U.S. Courts of Appeals."
• Boston, Joshua, Benjamin Kassow, Ali S. Masood, & David R. Miller. "Identity Politics and the Courts: How Race and Gender Shape Support for the American Judiciary."
• Boston, Joshua, Tristen Bowles, Zachary J. Noesen, Judith Ramos, & Nicholas Waterbury. "Religious Identity and Supreme Court Support: The Effect of Heuristics in Legitimacy Evaluations."
• Applin, Lydia, Joshua Boston, & Christopher Krewson. "Understanding the Effect of Media Consumption on Supreme Court Approval."

Coauthors

Research is a collaborative process. I find great intellectual stimulation in working with teammates who have different training, identities, world views, and much more. As such, all of my research is made better by my colleagues and co-authors. Please take some time to check out the awesome work being done in the BGSU Political Science Department and by my collaborators listed in the citations above.

Replication files for my published works are available upon request. Please feel free to email me: jboston@bgsu.edu