Books

Invited to Revise and Resubmit

Unconfirmed Power: Unilateral Governance at the Pleasure of the President

The first comprehensive examination of the political power that vacancies and acting appointees offer presidents as a means to unilaterally control the administrative state. Tracing more than two centuries of appointment authority in the federal executive branch and introducing an original dataset of every appointee, empty position, and nominee for nearly 500 Senate-confirmable positions from 1981 to 2025, the book upends the assumption that presidents staff the government only through Senate approval.

In Progress

Administrative Ambition: The Revolving Door of Congressional Influence in the Executive Branch

An examination of the revolving door of congressional influence in the executive branch. Tracing how careers that span the branches carry congressional priorities, networks, and ambitions into administrative positions, the book asks what this mobility means for political control of the bureaucracy and the separation of powers.