John Dinan is Professor of Politics at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His research focuses on state constitutionalism, federalism, and American political development. He is the author of several books, including State Constitutional Politics: Governing by Amendment in the American States, as well as The American State Constitutional Tradition,  Keeping the People’s Liberties: Legislators, Citizens, and Judges as Guardians of Rights, and he is the editor of the Core Document Volume, Federalism  and he writes an annual entry on state constitutional developments for The Book of the States. He has served as the editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism and is a past chair of the Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Section of the American Political Science Association. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.