Director, Les Aspin Center for Government
Political Science
Associate Professor
Paul Nolette is Associate Professor and Director of the Les Aspin Center for Government. He is also the co-editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism. Prof. Nolette's teaching and research interests focus on the dynamics of contemporary American federalism as well as the interplay between politics and law. His book, Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and National Policymaking in Contemporary America (University Press of Kansas, 2015), examines how state litigators have used lawsuits against large corporations and the federal government as a way to influence national policy. Prof. Nolette's research on the politics of state attorneys general has also appeared in Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Law & Social Inquiry, and Polity. This research has been relied upon in several national media stories, including in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Governing Magazine, and Public Radio International.
Prof. Nolette's current research projects focus on the emergence of executive federalism in contemporary American politics. In particular, his work is exploring the effects of polarization and executive-centered governance on the operation of state-federal relations. Prof. Nolette is also interested in the politics of the American legal profession, including the contributions of the organized bar to American political development and the construction of the modern American state. Prof. Nolette is also working on co-authored projects examining the global spread of constitutional courts.
Prof. Nolette completed his Ph.D. in political science at Boston College prior to joining the Marquette faculty in the fall of 2011. He also received a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2004 and a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Anselm College in 2001. After law school, Prof. Nolette worked in a litigation law firm and later served as the legal counsel for the Labor and Workforce Development Committee in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Education
- Ph.D., Boston College, 2011
- J.D., Georgetown University, 2004
Courses Taught
- POSC 2201 Introduction to American Politics | Syllabus
- POSC 4241 Constitutional Law and Development | Syllabus
- POSC 4251 The Politics of Civil Rights and Liberties | Syllabus
- POSC 4931 Law, Lawyers, and Social Change | Syllabus
- POSC 6954 Research Seminar in Law, Courts, and Constitutionalism | Syllabus
Publications
- Provost, Colin, Elysa Dishman, and Paul Nolette. 2022. “Monitoring Corporate Compliance through Cooperative Federalism: Trends in Multistate Settlements by State Attorneys General,” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 52(3): 497-522.
- Konisky, David M. and Paul Nolette. 2022. “The State of American Federalism 2021–2022: Federal Courts, State Legislatures, and the Conservative Turn in the Law,” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 52(3): 353-381.
- Konisky, David M. and Paul Nolette. 2021. “The State of American Federalism, 2020–2021:Deepening Partisanship amid Tumultuous Times,” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 51(3): 327-364.
- Nolette, Paul. 2020. “Trumpism and the Dual Tracks of American Polarization,” in American Political Development and the Trump Presidency, Philip Rocco and Zachary Callen, eds. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press).
- Nolette, Paul and Colin Provost. 2018. “Change and Continuity in the Role of State Attorneys General in the Obama and Trump Administrations,” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 48(3): 469-494.
- Nolette, Paul. 2017. “The Dual Role of State Attorneys General in American Federalism: Conflict and Cooperation in an Era of Partisan Polarization,” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 47(3): 342-377.
- Nolette, Paul. 2015. Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and National Policymaking in Contemporary America (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas).
- Nolette, Paul. 2015. "Law Enforcement as Legal Mobilization: Reforming the Pharmaceutical Industry through Government Litigation." Law & Social Inquiry 40(1): 123-151.
- Nolette, Paul. 2014. "Law Enforcement as Legal Mobilization: Reforming the Pharmaceutical Industry through Government Litigation." Law & Social Inquiry (forthcoming).
- Nolette, Paul. 2014. "State Litigation during the Obama Administration: Diverging Agendas in an Era of Polarized Politics." Publius: The Journal of Federalism 44(3): 451-474.
- Nolette, Paul. 2013. "Gubernatorial Power and the Nationalization of State Politics." Tulsa Law Review 49(2): 279-289 (review essay).
- Nolette, Paul. 2012. "Litigating the Public Interest in the Gilded Age: Common Law Business Regulation by Nineteenth-Century State Attorneys General." Polity 44(3): 373-399.
- Nolette, Paul. 2003. "Lessons Learned From South Africa's Constitutional Court: Towards a Third Way of Judicial Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights." Michigan State Journal of International Law 12(1): 91-119.
- Conahan, Joseph, Janine Loaisiga Ivanova, Paul Nolette, and Aram Young. 2003. "Eighteenth Survey of White Collar Crime: Securities Fraud." American Criminal Law Review 40(2): 1041-1107.
Paul Nolette, Ph.D.Marquette University
