UMass Amherst: Paul Collins Receives Second C. Herman Pritchett Best Book Award

Paul M. Collins, Jr., professor of legal studies and political science, has been honored for the second time with the C. Herman Pritchett Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. The award recognizes Collins’ book “Supreme Bias: Gender and Race in U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings” (Stanford University Press, October 2023), co-authored by Christina L. Boyd and Lori A. Ringhand, both of the University of Georgia.

Collins won the 2009 Pritchett Award for his book, “Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making” (Oxford University Press, August 2008).

“Supreme Bias” examines the subtle forms of bias that women and people of color face on their paths to the Supreme Court. In addition to revealing the disturbing extent to which race and gender bias exist even at the highest echelon of U.S. legal power, the book provides concrete suggestions for how that bias can be reduced in the future.

“When we started this project eight years ago, we sought to bring evidence to bear on something we thought we observed at confirmation hearings—the mistreatment of the women and people of color nominated to the Supreme Court,” Collins says. “In conducting our research, we found out this bias was more widespread than we expected, which is troubling. One of the first steps to lessening this bias is to bring attention to it, so we’re especially thrilled that our book was recognized with this award.”

“Supreme Bias” is available for purchase directly from Stanford University Press and from booksellers everywhere.