ABOUT ROBERT

ROBERT J. SPITZER (Ph.D. Cornell, 1980) is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the State University of New York, College at Cortland. He is the author of 16 books, including The Presidency and Public Policy, The Right to Life Movement and Third Party Politics, The Presidential Veto, The Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, President and Congress, Media and Public Policy, Politics and Constitutionalism, The Right to Bear Arms, The Presidency and the Constitution (co-authored), Saving the Constitution from Lawyers, Gun Control, The Gun Debate: An Encyclopedia of Gun Rights and Gun Control (3rd ed., co-authored), We the People: Essentials Edition (13th ed., co-authored), The Politics of Gun Control (10th ed., 2026), Guns across America: Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights and The Gun Dilemma: How History Is Against Expanded Gun Rights (2023). He is Series Editor for the book series "American Constitutionalism" for SUNY Press, and for the book series "Presidential Briefing Books" for Routledge. He is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University for 30 years.

    Spitzer is the author of over 700 articles, op-eds and papers appearing in many books, journals, newspapers, and web sites on a variety of American politics subjects. He served as President of the Presidency and Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association from 2001-2003 and as a member of the New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. He has testified before Congress on several occasions, and his work has been cited in numerous federal court decisions. Spitzer is often quoted and interviewed by American and international news outlets, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC Nightly News, PBS’s News Hour, MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS), CNN, NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Diane Rehm Show and 1A (NPR), the BBC, CBC, NHK, Der Spiegel, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Atlantic Monthly, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Slate, and Politico, among others. He also appeared in the documentary films  “Guns and Mothers” (PBS, 2003), “Under the Gun” (Katie Couric Film Company, Epix, 2016), and “The Price of Freedom” (Flatbush Pictures/Tribeca Films, 2021).