The Alignment Theory of Election Law: An Interview with Nick Stephanopoulos of Harvard Law School

Is American election law fundamentally misaligned with the will of the people? Nick Stephanopoulos, author of “Aligning Election Law,” joins Law & Democracy to discuss his groundbreaking theory. Discover how alignment can be measured, why it matters for democracy, and what can be done to fix the gaps between what people want and what the government does.About Nicholas StephanopoulosNicholas Stephanopoulos’s research and teaching interests include election law, constitutional law, administrative law, legislation, and comparative law. His work is particularly focused on the intersection of democratic theory, empirical political science, and the American electoral system. He is the author of Aligning Election Law (2024) and a coauthor of Election Law: Cases and Materials (7th ed. 2022). His academic articles have appeared in, among others, the California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, New York University Law Review, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. He has also written for popular publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlantic, New Republic, Slate, and Vox. He has been involved in several litigation efforts as well, including two partisan gerrymandering cases based on his scholarship and decided by the Supreme Court. He continues to work on litigation and advocacy as the Director of Strategy of Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic.