Matthew D. Montgomery

About

My name is Matthew D. Montgomery and I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas Christian University, where I specialize in judicial politics, public opinion, and the interaction between political elites and legal institutions. My research examines how executive actors engage with the judiciary, the strategic behavior of courts under political pressure, and how institutional legitimacy is shaped and contested in the public sphere.

I use experimental and mixed-method approaches to study elite signaling, public support for court reform, and democratic resilience. I am the co-editor of the Research Handbook on Judicial Politics (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024), a field-spanning volume that brings together leading voices on judicial behavior, legitimacy, and reform across domestic and international contexts.

My scholarship has appeared in journals such as Journal of Law and Courts, Political Science Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Social Science Quarterly. I’m also an active mentor and collaborator, frequently co-authoring with early-career scholars and undergraduate students.

At TCU, I teach courses on constitutional law, American political institutions, and experimental methods. My work bridges scholarly inquiry with public relevance, contributing to ongoing conversations about institutional trust, interbranch conflict, and the future of the judiciary in polarized democracies.