Thomas M. Keck
Tom Keck is
Associate Professor
of Political Science in the
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
at Syracuse University. He lives in Syracuse,
New York with his partner, Julie Gozan, and their daughters, Sasha and Ruby. He
is a graduate of Baltimore
City College, Oberlin College, and
Rutgers University. After receiving his
Ph.D. in political science in 1999, he taught at the University of Oklahoma for
several years before joining the Maxwell School in 2002.
In 2004, the University of Chicago Press published Professor Keck's first book, The Most Activist Supreme Court in History: The Road to Modern Judicial Conservatism. Tracing the rise of conservative judicial activism (and the surprising resilience of liberal judicial activism) on the contemporary Supreme Court, the book received a number of favorable reviews, with Choice recommending that "if you read just one book on the history of the modern Supreme Court, this should probably be the one." Professor Keck is currently writing a book on the impact and independence of American courts in the context of the contemporary culture wars. In 2008, he received a Sabbatical Fellowship from the American Philosophical Society to support this project.
Professor Keck's articles on judicial decision-making and constitutional development have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Law and Social Inquiry, and Polity, and his examinations of affirmative action and gay rights have been published by the University Press of Kansas and NYU Press. He has delivered more than twenty-five scholarly papers and addresses, including invited talks at Carleton College, the DePaul College of Law, and Princeton University, and he has been an active member of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association, serving on the editorial board of the Section's newsletter and a variety of other Section Committees as well. At Syracuse, he has served since 2005 on the University Senate Committee on LGBT Concerns, and recently received the 2007-08 Foundation Award for Outstanding Faculty Member, awarded by the campus LGBT community in recognition of his contributions and leadership in creating a campus community that is inclusive and nurturing for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, faculty, and staff.