Kirk A. Randazzo

Kirk A. Randazzo is a Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina and currently Chair of the Department of Political Science (since 2019). He received his Ph.D. in Political Science in 2003 from Michigan State University; an MA in International Studies from the University of South Carolina in 1997; and, a BA in Music from the University of South Carolina in 1994. Prior to joining the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina in 2008, he taught at the University of Kentucky from 2003-2008. From 2013-2016, Randazzo served as the Director of the Carolina Leadership Initiative and continues to serve (since 2017) as the Director of Leadership Studies.

His primary research and teaching interests involve law and judicial politics. More specifically, he focuses on the conditions under which U.S. federal judges make decisions, the rule of law in emerging democracies, and judicial independence. Randazzo has published several books, including Checking the Courts: Law, Ideology, and Contingent Discretion (with Richard W. Waterman) in 2014 and Defenders of Liberty or Champions of Security? Federal Courts, the Hierarchy of Justice, and U.S. Foreign Policy in 2010 both by SUNY Press. Additionally, he has published numerous articles in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, the Journal of Law and Courts, and the Justice System Journal. He serves on the editorial boards of Routledge Press Law and Court series, the Justice System Journal, and Research and Politics and was the Chair of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association from 2019-2020.