Research

Law, Power, and Inequality

My work examines how law, political power, and inequality intersect at the boundaries of race, gender, and settler colonialism. I study how legal institutions and public discourse shape these forms of power, with particular attention to federal Indian law, judicial behavior, and the legal strategies of social movements.

My research uses a primarily qualitative, socio-historical approach, combining archival research, discourse analysis, interviews, and systematic analysis of legal texts and judicial decision-making. Across these projects, I aim to deepen our understanding of law, inequality, state power, social movements, and the politics of citizenship.

Earlier publications may appear under Amy L. Casselman.

Research Statement

Featured Publications

Book

Injustice in Indian Country

Jurisdiction, American Law, and Sexual Violence Against Native Women

Documents how federal Indian law facilitates violence against Native women as part of a colonial legal regime.

Peter Lang, 2022 [2016]

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Chapter

Taking the Children to Take the Land

Indian Child Welfare and the Enduring Epidemic of Family Separation

Traces the relationship between Indigenous child removal, settler colonialism, and control over Native land.

New York University Press, 2025

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Journal Article

Discourses of Distrust

How Lack of Trust in the U.S. Health-Care System Shaped COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

Explores how distrust in the U.S. health-care system shaped COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy across the United States.

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2024

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Encyclopedia Entry

Oliphant v. Suquamish, 1978

50 Events That Shaped American Indian History, 2016

Examines the U.S. Supreme Court decision that stripped tribal nations of criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians and its consequences for tribal sovereignty.

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Working Papers

Breaking Rank

Decision-Making and Judicial Behavior in Indian Law Cases on the Roberts Court

Analyzes voting patterns in Indian law cases on the U.S. Supreme Court and considers their implications for understanding judicial behavior.

Speculative Victimhood

A Framework for Understanding Right-Wing Mobilization

Explores how claims of potential harm to dominant groups are used by political elites to contest rights-expanding reforms.

Gendered Discourse in the ERA of Change

The Equal Rights Amendment, Discursive Framing, and Anti-Feminist Activism

Studies the women-led movement against the Equal Rights Amendment to better understand the role of gendered discourse in grassroots mobilization.