Scot M. Peterson

I am a graduate of the University of Oxford. I earned my doctoral degree in Politics in 2009. I also hold a J.D. (law degree) from the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley Law) and an M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago.

My current research interests include constitutional entrenchment and stability, state building and constitutional structure, including the relationship between the crown and the democratic elements of government. Previously, I have written on church/state relations in the United Kingdom and the United States, including both religious freedom and establishment.

My religious establishment research concerns the national, established and disestablished churches in Great Britain, especially during the period from 1886–1936 and their relationship to the government.  In the future I plan to compare this conception of establishment to the one prevalent in the United States at the time of the founding (and thereafter). These projects are predominantly historical and legal, but I am sympathetic with the rational choice approach to political science and I incorporate rational choice analysis into my work.

I am an attorney licensed to practice in the State of Colorado and the federal courts in the United States.  I have practised in the fields of church/state relations and human rights, as well as in more general areas of civil and commercial litigation. I grew up in Leadville, Colorado (pictured above), elevation 10,200 ft (3,110 m.), where I attended Lake County High School. I attended the University of Colorado at Boulder as an undergraduate.