Barbara A. Perry

Who is Barbara A. Perry?

Dr. Barbara A. Perry, a U.S. Supreme Court and presidency expert, as well as a biographer of the Kennedys, is a Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and is the former Carter Glass Professor of Government and founding director of the Center for Civic Renewal at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. In 1994-95 she was the Judicial Fellow at the U.S. Supreme Court, where she received the Tom C. Clark Award as the outstanding fellow that year. Her duties included researching and drafting speeches for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Dr. Perry was the Senior Fellow for civics education at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center in 2006-07 and now serves as a Non-Resident Fellow there. She earned a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in politics, philosophy, and economics from Hertford College, Oxford, and a B.A. in political science, with highest honors, from the University of Louisville.

Professor Perry’s eight books include The Supremes: An Introduction to the United States Supreme Court Justices, 2nd ed.; The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases; Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier; The Priestly Tribe: The Supreme Court’s Image in the American Mind; A “Representative” Supreme Court? The Impact of Race, Religion, and Gender on Appointments; and, with Henry Abraham, Freedom and the Court: Civil Rights and Liberties in the United States, 8th edition.