KAPI Lab

Kinane American Political Institutions Lab · Yale University

The KAPI Lab studies power in American political institutions, investigating how political actors shape policy through the full range of tools available to them. The lab builds original datasets, develops new theory, and creates public data resources that open new ways of understanding policymaking and governance.

Acting Appointees Data Nominations Tracker FEC Partisanship Data IRC Rulemaking Tracker

Principal Investigator

Christina M. Kinane

Current Predoctoral Associate

Julia Crainic

Current Research Assistants

Jasmine Garcia
Josie Kelleher
Prithvi Narayanan

Former Research Assistants

Data Collection Ongoing All Administrations

Appointee & Nominee Data Collection

Building and maintaining a comprehensive dataset tracking presidential appointees and nominees across administrations, including acting appointees, vacancies, and confirmation outcomes.

Coding Ongoing Delaying Democracy paper

FEC Partisanship Coding

Systematic coding of partisan dimensions of FEC enforcement claims, examining how political dynamics shape regulatory action.

Research In Progress

Presidential Removal Power

Researching the scope and exercise of presidential removal authority over executive branch officials.

Coding Ongoing

Congressional Committee Hearing Coding

Coding congressional committee hearings on oversight of presidential appointees and bureaucratic performance.

Data Collection Ongoing Who Remains paper

IRC Commissioner Tenure & Rulemaking

Original data linking commissioner service at 14 independent regulatory commissions to their rulemaking output, 1995 to 2025. The data pair verified commissioner tenure records, including party, chair spells, and vacancy periods, with every rule those commissions moved through the Federal Register. The dataset will be released publicly when the paper is forthcoming; a preview dashboard with simulated data shows what to expect.

Coding Ongoing Unconfirmed Power book

OLC Opinions Data Coding

Coding Office of Legal Counsel opinions, tracking opinion frequency, agency targeting, and topical distribution to examine how executive branch legal doctrine accommodates and legitimates acting authority.

Data Collection Ongoing

FEVS Data Project

Pairing fifteen years of Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey responses with position-day records of Senate-confirmed appointments across the 15 cabinet departments, to measure how vacancies and acting leadership register in the federal workforce.