Robert Pallitto, Ph.D., J.D.

Professor of Political Science
Department of Political Science and Public Affairs

Robert Pallitto is a professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs at Seton Hall University and a former public interest lawyer. He received his B.A. cum laude from Rutgers University, his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, and his Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research. As a lawyer, he was lead counsel or co-counsel in several precedent-setting New Jersey cases involving public entitlements and housing rights.

Pallitto researches and writes on civil liberties, executive power, constitutional law, critical theory and contemporary political thought. His latest book, Bargaining with the Machine, was published in August of 2020 by the University Press of Kansas. His previous publications include 3 books: In the Shadow of the Great Charter (Kansas 2015), Presidential Secrecy and the Law (Johns Hopkins University Press 2007 -- co-authored with William Weaver), and Torture and State Violence in the U.S. (Johns Hopkins University Press 2011). He has also authored and co-authored numerous articles for the scholarly and popular presses.

Pallitto has also co-authored amicus briefs in several government secrecy cases and comments frequently in the media on law and individual rights cases.