Abigail A Matthews
Biographic Data
| ID | 4280670 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Abigail A Matthews |
| GIVEN NAMES | Abigail A |
| FAMILY NAME | Matthews |
| SIGNATURE | MATTHEWS A A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7645-9315 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Researchers in the Laboratories of Democracy
Policy diffusion has become one of the most vibrant areas of research in the study of American state politics, and State Politics & Policy Quarterly ( SPPQ ) has played a leading role in shaping that scholarship. While scholars agree that states routinely look to one another when making policy decisions, questions persist about the mechanisms that drive these processes, the methods best suited to studying them, and the implications for policymaki…
Supreme Prejudice
The U.S. Supreme Court is often regarded as an impartial arbiter of justice, yet various prejudices may influence its decisions. This article examines Supreme Court justices’ biases, focusing on how they invoke racialized stereotypes of criminality. We argue that justices are more likely to vote in favor of white, nonviolent litigants, reinforcing stereotypes that depict nonwhite defendants as inherently more criminal and violent. Drawing on the …
Publishing Public Law
As expectations for research output evolve, tenure portfolios serve as valuable records of how a field gauges impact. We analyze the records of 184 Law and Courts faculty at PhD-granting institutions and find that the median portfolio has grown from seven to ten peer-reviewed articles, that scholars publish in a wider variety of outlets, and that coauthorship rates have doubled over our four-decade time period. We also note patterns of gendered c…
Judicial influence and the importance of intersecting identities
Judges, like all of us, possess multiple intersecting identities. Drawing on social identity theory, we examine how gender, race, and partisanship jointly influence judicial citation practices. We hypothesize that in-group favoritism motivates judges to preferentially cite peers with whom they share salient identities, and that this effect intensifies as the number of shared identities increases. Using an extensive dataset of discretionary citati…
Legislative success and collaboration in the Texas State House
Women and racial and ethnic minority legislators achieve varying levels of legislative success due to the discrimination they face in elections and the legislature. To overcome these disadvantages, some scholars suggest that legislators employ cooperative strategies to achieve higher success. In a diverse legislature, we ask whether legislators cooperate with each other via bill cosponsorship as a strategy to increase their legislative success. W…
Learning from and Emulating Their Peers
Many studies of policy diffusion focus on what factors affect a policy’s adoption. Few studies specifically test the mechanism and two of the most common explanations – learning and emulation – have not been tested outside of legislatures. While judicial scholars have applied policy diffusion to several types of laws, we know little about the motivation behind why policies spread from court to court. One unexplored area is the relationship betwee…
Timing Their Positions
Legislators must decide when, if ever, to cosponsor legislation. Scholars have shown legislators strategically time their positions on salient issues of national importance, but we know little about the timing of position-taking for routine bills or what this activity looks like in state legislatures. We argue that legislators’ cosponsorship decision-making depends on the type of legislation and the partisan dynamics among the current cosponsors.…
Gendered Polarization and Abortion Policymaking in the States
Widening, asymmetric polarization is evident in both the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. Recent work unveils a new dimension to this polarization story: newly elected Republican women are driving this polarization. Women are more likely to legislate on women’s issues than men, yet women’s shared interest in representing women doesn’t preclude their identity as partisans. In this article, we explore the effect of today’s political climate on…
Learning from and Emulating Their Peers
Many studies of policy diffusion focus on what factors affect a policy’s adoption. Few studies specifically test the mechanism and two of the most common explanations – learning and emulation – have not been tested outside of legislatures. While judicial scholars have applied policy diffusion to several types of laws, we know little about the motivation behind why policies spread from court to court. One unexplored area is the relationship betwee…
Gendered Polarization and Abortion Policymaking in the States
Widening, asymmetric polarization is evident in both the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. Recent work unveils a new dimension to this polarization story: newly elected Republican women are driving this polarization. Women are more likely to legislate on women’s issues than men, yet women’s shared interest in representing women doesn’t preclude their identity as partisans. In this article, we explore the effect of today’s political climate on…
Timing Their Positions
Legislators must decide when, if ever, to cosponsor legislation. Scholars have shown legislators strategically time their positions on salient issues of national importance, but we know little about the timing of position-taking for routine bills or what this activity looks like in state legislatures. We argue that legislators’ cosponsorship decision-making depends on the type of legislation and the partisan dynamics among the current cosponsors.…
Gendered Polarization and Abortion Policymaking in the States
Widening, asymmetric polarization is evident in both the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. Recent work unveils a new dimension to this polarization story: newly elected Republican women are driving this polarization. Women are more likely to legislate on women’s issues than men, yet women’s shared interest in representing women doesn’t preclude their identity as partisans. In this article, we explore the effect of today’s political climate on…
Timing Their Positions
Legislators must decide when, if ever, to cosponsor legislation. Scholars have shown legislators strategically time their positions on salient issues of national importance, but we know little about the timing of position-taking for routine bills or what this activity looks like in state legislatures. We argue that legislators’ cosponsorship decision-making depends on the type of legislation and the partisan dynamics among the current cosponsors.…
Legislative success and collaboration in the Texas State House
Women and racial and ethnic minority legislators achieve varying levels of legislative success due to the discrimination they face in elections and the legislature. To overcome these disadvantages, some scholars suggest that legislators employ cooperative strategies to achieve higher success. In a diverse legislature, we ask whether legislators cooperate with each other via bill cosponsorship as a strategy to increase their legislative success. W…
Learning from and Emulating Their Peers
Many studies of policy diffusion focus on what factors affect a policy’s adoption. Few studies specifically test the mechanism and two of the most common explanations – learning and emulation – have not been tested outside of legislatures. While judicial scholars have applied policy diffusion to several types of laws, we know little about the motivation behind why policies spread from court to court. One unexplored area is the relationship betwee…
Supreme Prejudice
The U.S. Supreme Court is often regarded as an impartial arbiter of justice, yet various prejudices may influence its decisions. This article examines Supreme Court justices’ biases, focusing on how they invoke racialized stereotypes of criminality. We argue that justices are more likely to vote in favor of white, nonviolent litigants, reinforcing stereotypes that depict nonwhite defendants as inherently more criminal and violent. Drawing on the …
Publishing Public Law
As expectations for research output evolve, tenure portfolios serve as valuable records of how a field gauges impact. We analyze the records of 184 Law and Courts faculty at PhD-granting institutions and find that the median portfolio has grown from seven to ten peer-reviewed articles, that scholars publish in a wider variety of outlets, and that coauthorship rates have doubled over our four-decade time period. We also note patterns of gendered c…
Judicial influence and the importance of intersecting identities
Judges, like all of us, possess multiple intersecting identities. Drawing on social identity theory, we examine how gender, race, and partisanship jointly influence judicial citation practices. We hypothesize that in-group favoritism motivates judges to preferentially cite peers with whom they share salient identities, and that this effect intensifies as the number of shared identities increases. Using an extensive dataset of discretionary citati…
Researchers in the Laboratories of Democracy
Policy diffusion has become one of the most vibrant areas of research in the study of American state politics, and State Politics & Policy Quarterly ( SPPQ ) has played a leading role in shaping that scholarship. While scholars agree that states routinely look to one another when making policy decisions, questions persist about the mechanisms that drive these processes, the methods best suited to studying them, and the implications for policymaki…
Law (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (4 works) · Legislature (4 works) · State (computer science (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Gender Politics and Representation (3 works) · Judicial and Constitutional Studies (3 works) · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies (3 works)