My research, teaching, and media work connect political theory, public law and contemporary politics. As a national expert on gender and the Second Amendment, my scholarship on how gun rights and regulations affect democratic citizenship has appeared in both academic (Journal of Politics, Polity) and public facing venues (Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Washington Post) – and I’ve presented my work at Duke, Columbia, Rutgers, George Washington, Brennan Center for Justice, and the American Political Science Association and Association for Political Theory annual conferences. As an expert providing television and radio commentary nationally and internationally, I enjoy translating cutting edge research in political science and law to public audiences.
My passion for teaching translates into lively lectures and innovative simulations for my courses in political theory, public law, and ideology and film – as well as supervision of independent research for Summer Scholars and other students. My award-winning teaching has been featured in the Washington Post. As the co-host of the New Books in Political Science podcast on the New Books Network, I have interviewed over 130 scholars about their cutting edge research in political science, history, and law.
The programs that I have developed include the Justice and Ethics in the Law minor, Global Smarts Mentoring Program for World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, Legal Education Advancing Diversity (recognized by the Philadelphia Bar Association magazine), and revised Pre-Law Advising program. I have proudly served as the chair of the Association for Political Theory’s Standing Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
I enjoy hiking, knitting, reading novels, my dog Olivia, and all things political. A college internship with Governor Mario Cuomo led to running the research department – and I’m a huge fan of internships. I particularly love events with students and if you read one of the books that I mention in class, I’ll buy you lunch to discuss it.
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- MA and PhD, The University of Chicago
- BA, Queens College of the City University of New York
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Dr. Liebell has taught courses in political theory and public law at SJU since 2004. Previously, she taught at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Haverford College, and Rutgers University. Before becoming a professor, she worked in New York State government as the Associate Director of Research for Governor Mario M. Cuomo and as a fellow in education policy.
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- “Reproduction, Politics, and Liberty: How the Supreme Court Overturned Roe v. Wade” in Understanding Reproduction in Social Contexts edited by Caitlyn Killian. Rowman & Littlefield, forthcoming.
- “Green Political Theory,” Cambridge Dictionary of Political Thought, edited by Carol Atack, Richard Bellamy, Christopher Brooke, and Leigh Jenco, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
- “Unity and Discipline for the Democrats in Chicago.” 3Streams on Medium. August 27, 2024
- “Public Television Fails the Public: PBS, Reproductive Rights, and the DNC.”3Streams Medium. August 21, 2024.
- “What the court got wrong this week: How the Supreme Court’s Immunity Decision Ignores Madisonian Logic to Anoint an Imperial Presidency.” 3Streams on Medium. July 3, 2024.
- “Court creates chaos as it rules on domestic violence and the Second Amendment: Justice Jackson calls out the madness.” 3Streams on Medium. June 23, 2024.
- “The Vice President Matters in 2024: Kamala Harris is the Prosecutor Defending Reproductive Rights.” 3Streamson Medium. April 16, 2024.
- “Here’s How Originalism Trivializes Violence Against Women.” 3Streams on Medium. July 12, 2023.
- “This Court has no moderate justices. It is a Court of threes.” 3Streams on Medium. June 29, 2023.
- “The Politics of Law: Capricious Originalism and the Future of the Supreme Court.” Polity 55(2)(April 2023): 356–362.
- “Armed Rebellion: Ammon Bundy and the Malheur Wildlife Refuge,” Political Violence in America: Historical Flashpoints and Modern-Day Trends, edited by Lori Cox Han and Tomislav Han Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2022.
- “When the Court overturned a century-old statute on carrying a concealed gun, it radically revised what’s protected by the Constitution.” 3Streams on Medium. August 25, 2022.
- “BLM V. #BLM: The Dangers of the New Armed Rebellion Narrative.” The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law. June 29, 2021.
- “Sensitive Places: Originalism, Gender, and the Myth Self-Defense in District of Columbia v. Heller.” 53(3), (July 2021): 207-238. Polity Prize for best article of 2021.
- “Why even diehard originalists aren’t really originalists.” The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage Blog. October 21, 2020.
- “Popish Plots, Playing Cards, and Political Theory” in Against Popery: Britain, Empire, and Anti-Catholicism edited by Evan Haefeli, University of Virginia Press, 2020. Co-authored with Andrew Murphy and Gregory Zucker.
- “100 Years of Political Spectacle: Women, Political Protest, and the White House.” History News Network, George Washington University. Co-authored with Bernadette Crehan. May 17, 2020.
- “Retreat from the Rule of Law: Locke and the Perils of Stand Your Ground.” Journal of Politics 82 (3) (July 2020): 955-966.
- Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution: Science for Citizenship, Routledge Press, 2014.
- “Rethinking Dover: Religion, Science, and the Values of Democratic Citizenship.” Politics & Religion, August 2012, Vol. 5; No. 3.
- “The Text and Context of “Enough and as Good”: John Locke as the Foundation of an Environmental Liberalism.” Polity, April 2011; Vol. 43; No. 2.
- “Lockean Switching: Imagination and the Production of Principles of Toleration.” Perspectives on Politics, December 2009; Vol. 7; No. 4, 823-836.
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Dr. Liebell received the Polity Award for Best Article in 2021 for Sensitive Places: Originalism, Gender, and the Myth Self-Defense in District of Columbia v. Heller.” She has received merit awards for her advising (the only faculty member to win twice), teaching, research, and service. She was named the Dirk Warren ’50 Sesquicentennial Research Chair in Education and Social Sciences for 2021-2023. She has received a Michael J. Morris Scholarly Research Grant and the Faculty Merit Award for Justice. She has received multiple summer research grants and curriculum grants. She has received multiple grants from the American Political Science Association including the 2nd Century and Rita Mae Kelly Fund, Alma Ostrom and Leah Hopkins Awan Civic Education Fund Grant, and small research grants.
She has been a fellow at The Walt Whitman Center for the Culture & Politics of Democracy at Rutgers University and the NYS Science and Technology Foundation.
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Dr. Liebell is a leading expert on the Second Amendment, particularly the ways in which so-called “originalist” approaches to the Constitution negatively impact women’s rights. Her work is at the intersection of law, history, and politics.