Joseph Daniel Ura

Biography

Joseph Daniel Ura is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Clemson University. Dr. Ura previously held faculty appointments at Texas A&M University and Louisiana State University. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and he completed his M.A. and B.A. in political science at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Dr. Ura's research addresses American national politics, focussing on issues in judicial politics, public opinion, elections, and political representation. He and his co-authors have contributed articles to the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and other peer-reviewed journals in political science.

Dr. Ura offers courses addressing American government, political institutions, and judicial politics, and he has been recognized for outstanding teaching with the Association of Former Students Award for Teaching Excellence in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M, the Texas A&M Student Led Award for Teaching Excellence, the Student Undergraduate Teaching Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Earle Wallace Award for outstanding teaching by a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Contact

Department of Political Science
Clemson University
232 Brackett Hall
Clemson, SC 29634

jura@clemson.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Google Scholar

Dataverse

Publications

Peer Reviewed Articles, Notes, and Chapters

Craig, McKinzie, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2026. Policy, Position-Taking, and Congressional Voting under Judicial Review. American Politics Research 54(2): 139-154. (Copyright 2025 McKinzie Craig and Joseph Daniel Ura)

Haglin, Kathryn, Soren Jordan, Alison Higgins Merrill, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2025. Reevaluating Ideological Asymmetries in Specific Support for the Supreme Court. Research and Politics 12(3): https://doi.org/10.1177/20531680251355253 (Copyright 2025 Kathryn Haglin, Soren Jordan, Alison Higgins Merrill, and Joseph Daniel Ura)

Ellis, Christopher R., and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2025. Partisan Polarization Mitigates Economic Voting in US Presidential Elections, 1952–2020: Implications for 2024. Social Science Quarterly 106:e70034. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.70034. (Copyright 2025 Christopher R. Ellis and Joseph Daniel Ura)

Ura, Joseph Daniel, and Patrick C. Wohlfarth. 2022. Greater Public Confidence in the US Supreme Court Predicts More Jurisdiction Stripping. Political Science Research and Methods 10(4): 831-839. (Copyright 2022 Joseph Daniel Ura and Patrick C. Wohlfarth)

Ellis, Christopher R. and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2021. Polarization and the Decline of Economic Voting in American National Elections. Social Science Quarterly 102(1): 83-89. (Copyright 2020 Christopher R. Ellis and Joseph Daniel Ura)

Haglin, Kathryn, Soren Jordan, Alison Higgins Merrill, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2020. Ideology and Specific Support for the Supreme Court. Political Research Quarterly 74(4): 955-969. (Copyright 2020 University of Utah)

Rogers, James R., and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2020. A Majoritarian Basis for Judicial Countermajoritarianism. Journal of Theoretical Politics 32(3): 435-459. (Copyright 2020 James R. Rogers and Joseph Daniel Ura)

Conway, Nicholas J., Soren Jordan, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2018. Courts and Issue Attention in Canada. Social Science Quarterly 99(4): 1324-1348. (Copyright 2018 Southwestern Social Science Association)

Acevedo, Delia N., Carlie Fogleman, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2017. Peasants and Bankers: Education, Consumer Sentiment, and Presidential Approval. Presidential Studies Quarterly 47(2): 230-244. (Copyright 2017 Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress)

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Carla M. Flink. 2016. Experience Counts: The Chief Justice, Management Tenure, and Strategic Behavior on the U.S. Supreme Court. Research and Politics 3(2): DOI: 10.1177/2053168016644464. (Copyright 2016 Joseph Daniel Ura and Carla M. Flink)

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Carla M. Flink. 2016. Managing the Supreme Court: The Chief Justice, Management, and Consensus. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 26(2): 185-196. (Copyright 2016 Oxford University Press)

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2014. Backlash and Legitimation: Macro Political Responses to Supreme Court Decisions. American Journal of Political Science 58(1): 110-126. (Copyright 2013 Midwest Political Science Association)

Manzano, Sylvia and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2013. Desperately Seeking Sonia?: Latino Heterogeneity and Geographic Variation in Web Searches for Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Political Communication 30(1): 81-99. (Copyright 2013 Taylor & Francis Group)

Taylor-Robinson, Michelle M., and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2013. Public Opinion and Conflict in the Separation of Powers: Understanding the Honduran Coup of 2009. Journal of Theoretical Politics 25(1): 105-127. (Copyright 2012 Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson and Joseph Daniel Ura)

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Christopher R. Ellis. 2012. Partisan Moods: Polarization and the Dynamics of Mass Party Preferences. Journal of Politics 74(1): 277-291. (Copyright 2012 Southern Political Science Association)

Ellis, Christopher R. and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2011. United We Divide? Education, Income, and Heterogeneity in Mass Partisan Polarization. in Peter Enns and Christopher Wlezien eds. Who Gets Represented? New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 61-92.

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Patrick C. Wohlfarth. 2010. "An Appeal to the People": Public Opinion and Congressional Support for the Supreme Court. Journal of Politics 72(4): 939-956. (Copyright 2010 Southern Political Science Association)

Sill, Kaitlyn L., Joseph Daniel Ura, and Stacia L. Haynie. 2010. Strategic Passing and Opinion Assignment on the Burger Court. Justice System Journal. 31(2): 164-179. (Copyright 2010 National Center for State Courts)

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Christopher R. Ellis. 2008. Income, Preferences, and the Dynamics of Policy Responsiveness. PS: Political Science and Politics 41(4): 785-794. (Copyright 2008 American Political Science Association)

Ellis, Christopher R., Joseph Daniel Ura, and Jenna Ashley-Robinson. 2006. The Dynamic Consequences of Nonvoting in American National Elections. Political Research Quarterly 59(2): 227-233. (Copyright 2006 University of Utah)

Articles in Law Reviews

Ura, Joseph Daniel Ura. 2021. Majoritarian Judicial Review: Deference and the Political Construction of Judicial Power. George Mason Law Review 29: 537-555.

Merrill, Alison Higgins, Nicholas D. Conway, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2017. Confidence and Constraint: Public Opinion, Judicial Independence, and the Roberts Court. Washington University Journal of Law and Policy 54: 209-228.

Editor-Reviewed Articles and Chapters

Conway, Nicholas, D., Alison Higgins Merrill, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2024. The Effect of Supreme Court Decisions on Public Opinion. in Research Handbook on Judicial Politics, Michael P. Fix and Matthew D. Montgomery eds. Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar Pubishing, 356-377.

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Alison Higgins Merrill. Courts and Public Opinion. 2017. in Oxford Handbook of U.S. Judicial Behavior, Lee Epstein and Stefanie Lindquist eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 342-359.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2014. The Placement of Conflict: The Supreme Court and Issue Attention in the National Media. in Covering the Court in the Digital Age, Richard Davis ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 153-172. (Copyright 2014 Cambridge University Press and Joseph Daniel Ura)

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Erica M. Socker. 2011. The Behavioral Political Economy of Budget Deficits: How Starve the Beast Policies Feed the Machine. The Forum 9(2): Article 7. (Copyright 2011 Berkeley Electronic Press)

Other Publications

Haglin, Kathryn, Soren Jordan, Alison Higgins Merrill, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2025. Has Support for the Supreme Court Become More Political? in Theodore J. Lowi, Benjamin Ginsberg, Kenneth A. Shepsle, Stephen Ansolabehere, and Hahrie Hahn American Government: Power and Purpose 18 ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 426-427.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2024. Review of Making the Supreme Court: The Politics of Appointments, 1930-2020 by Charles M. Cameron and Jonathan P. Kastellec. Congress & the Presidency. 51(2): 227-228

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Matthew E.K. Hall. 2022. When the Supreme Court Loses Americans' Loyalty, Chaos---Even Violence---Can Follow. The Conversation (online). October 31.

Haglin, Kathryn, Soren Jordan, Alison Higgins Merrill, and Joseph Daniel Ura. 2022. Strong Political Institutions Can Uphold Democracy, Even if People Can't Agree on Politics. The Conversation. February 2.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2016. The Supreme Court After Scalia. Political Insight (UK Political Studies Association blog; online). February 21.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2014. Review of The Nature of Supreme Court Power by Matthew E. K. Hall. Law and Politics Book Review 24(5): 216-220.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2014. In the Long Run, the Supreme Court Leads Public Opinion on Controversial Issues. USApp Online (London School of Economics and Political Science American Politics Blog). February 20.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2013. Supreme Court Decisions in Favor of Gay Marriage Would Not Go `Too Far, Too Fast.' Pacific Standard Online. June 20.

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Francisco I. Pedraza. 2012. Public Support for the Supreme Court: The Promise and Peril of Arizona v. United States. Latino Decisions Blog June 12.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2012. Evaluating the Death Penalty. in Theodore J. Lowi, Benjamin Ginsberg, Kenneth A. Shepsle, and Stephen Ansolabehere American Government: Power and Purpose 12 ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 138-139.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. 2011. Another Look at UT Productivity Report.Texas Tribune Online. June 9.