Christina L. Boyd is a Professor in the School of Law and Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. She teaches courses at WashU on judicial behavior, civil procedure, and race, gender, and the law. Her research focuses on judicial behavior, empirical legal studies, judicial diversity, trial courts and litigation, and the intersection of courts and the bureaucracy in American politics.
Professor Boyd received her J.D. in 2004 from Wake Forest University and her Ph.D. in political science from Washington University in 2009. Prior to joining WashU in 2024, she served as a professor at the University of Georgia (2013-2024) and the University at Buffalo, SUNY (2009-2013).
Professor Boyd’s new book, Supreme Bias: Gender and Race in U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, was published in October 2023 by Stanford University Press. In Supreme Bias, Boyd and her co-authors Collins and Ringhand examine the dynamics of gender and race at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The book uses extensive new data and qualitative evidence to highlight how the women and people of color who have sat before the Committee have faced a significantly different confirmation process than their white male colleagues. Despite being among the most qualified and well-credentialed lawyers of their respective generations, the book’s evidence indicates that female nominees and nominees of color face more skepticism of their professional competence, are subjected to stereotype-based questioning, are more frequently interrupted, and are described in less-positive terms by senators. Supreme Bias was named the 2024 co-winner of the C. Herman Pritchett Book Award from the Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association.
In 2022, Boyd’s American Journal of Political Science article on the decision making of female judges, “Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging” (co-authored with Epstein and Martin), was awarded the American Political Science Association Law & Courts Section Lasting Contribution Award. In 2023, Boyd’s article (American Political Science Review), “How the Trump Administration’s Quota Policy Transformed Immigration Judging” (with Blasingame, Carlos, and Ornstein), was the recipient of the Midwest Political Science Association Evan Ringquist and American Political Science Association Law & Courts Section Best Conference Paper awards.
Professor Boyd’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation on multiple occasions. Her previous publications have appeared in Oxford University Press and leading political science and law journals such as the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, Journal of Legal Studies, Law & Society Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, Political Research Quarterly, and Politics, Groups, and Identities. Her research has been discussed in media outlets including New York Times, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, and National Public Radio.
Professor Boyd is a member of the North Carolina Bar (inactive) and grew up in beautiful western Montana.