Research & Writing

Selected Work

“Dismantling Independence: Legal, Compositional and Normative Erosion across Federal Boards and Commissions.” Partnership for Public Service, April 2026.

Documents how the Trump administration has simultaneously attacked the legal, compositional, and normative foundations of independent federal boards and commissions. Trump has fired or attempted to fire 20 members with statutory for-cause protections and 16 Democratic members across partisan-balanced bodies — leaving nearly 40% without any opposition-party representation. Pending Supreme Court decisions could eliminate for-cause protections for most independent bodies, but even a favorable ruling would not reverse the broader damage: the refusal to nominate replacements, the collapse of bipartisan confirmation norms, and the consolidation of these institutions under single-party control are already producing consequences that will outlast any court ruling.

“Weakening the Watchdogs: The Trump Administration’s Unprecedented Efforts to Undermine Inspector General Capacity.” Partnership for Public Service, April 2026.

Documents how the Trump administration is systematically reducing the capacity of federal inspector general offices through budget cuts and staffing reductions. The administration’s FY2027 budget proposes cutting Cabinet department OIG appropriations by 12% on average relative to 2024 levels, while projecting staffing will fall an additional 9% — leaving the average OIG nearly 20% smaller than when the administration began. These reductions are part of a broader and deliberate effort that includes firing inspectors general and leaving positions vacant, hollowing out the independent oversight function Congress created them to perform.

“The Politicization of Federal Leadership: Record Non-Senate Confirmed Presidential Appointments and the Hollowing Out of Career Leadership.” Partnership for Public Service, March 2026.

Documents a simultaneous and unprecedented shift in federal leadership: a record level of non-Senate confirmed political appointees—the most in 40 years—alongside a nearly 30% collapse in career Senior Executive Service leadership, the lowest level since at least 1998. Together, these trends are hollowing out the expertise and institutional memory agencies need to function, and new appointment categories like Schedule Policy/Career and Schedule G threaten to push them further.

“Assessing President Trump’s Second-Term Staffing Record.” Brookings Institution, January 2026. With Kathryn Dunn Tenpas.

Finds that Trump’s second term reflects deliberate lessons from his first: faster staffing through better transition planning, greater staff stability driven by a loyalty-above-all approach to vetting, and aggressive use of removal power—firing inspectors general, independent board members, and career officials—to dismantle the institutional guardrails designed to constrain presidential overreach.

“Measuring the Impact of Appointee Vacancies on U.S. Federal Agency Performance.” Journal of Politics, 2025. With Mark Richardson and David E. Lewis.

Uses an original survey-based measure of agency performance to show that persistent leadership vacancies are systematically associated with lower agency effectiveness—with agencies lacking confirmed leadership scoring roughly one standard deviation below those with consistent confirmed leadership, even after accounting for partisan differences in how performance is defined.