Biography

Professor Sullivan joined the faculty of the Political Science Department at Temple in 2018 and teaches a range of courses in law and politics, including Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, the Supreme Court, and American Political Systems. Professor Sullivan also teaches in the Intellectual Heritage Program and courses in Criminal Justice, including Justice in America and White Collar Crime. Her academic career includes teaching at San Francisco Law School, Widener School of Law, and Saint Joseph's University (Literature in Translation).

Professor Sullivan graduated from Exeter University in the United Kingdom with a B.A. in English Literature, earned her M.S. from St. Mary's College, and her J.D. from Rutgers Law School, Order of the Coif. After law school, she clerked for a federal Judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (now a US Supreme Court Justice) before practicing law in New York and in San Francisco. She has served indigent clients in family law matters, including the representation of battered women, and represented plaintiffs pro bono in employment discrimination litigation.

Professor Sullivan is a regular live television news commentator. Her appearances include interviews and analysis for MSNBC, the BBC, and TRT International TV News on pressing issues of the day concerning law, politics and current events. She is also an occasional guest commentator for local radio news outlets such as KYW News Radio in Philadelphia and BBC Essex in England. She has written op-eds for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

With a passion for literature, she also interviews writers before a live audience in ‘conversations’ subsequently broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR). Some of her recent interviewees include Salman Rushdie, Jonathan Franzen, A.S. Byatt, and Arundhati Roy.

Courses Taught

Political Science Department

• American Political Systems
• Civil Rights
• Constitutional Law I
• Constitutional Principles II
• The History and Significance of Race
• The Supreme Court

Criminal Justice Department

• Crime and Justice Around the Globe
• Criminal Procedure
• Justice in America
• White Collar Crime

Intellectual Heritage Program

• Intellectual Heritage I

Media Interviews

• Live Interview on MSNB’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (June 2024)
• The arrest of Donald Trump in Fulton County Georgia on charges of election interference (August 2023)
• Live television news coverage of the arrest of Donald Trump on charges of election interference (August 2023)
• Live television coverage of the implications of the execution of the FBI warrant to search Donald Trump's Florida property (August 2022)
• American Gun Culture, Crime, and Gun Control (April 2022)
• Live Television News commentary on the attempts to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House (Jan 2022)
• Live Television News Commentary on school shootings and gun culture in the USA (December 2021)
• Live Television News Commentary on the introduction of gun-control legislation by President Biden (March 2021)
• Live Television News Coverage of the riot at the US Capitol, January 6, 2021 (January 2021)
• Live TV News Commentary on the Impeachment of Donald Trump (January 2021)
• Live TV Coverage as the Results of the 2020 Election are Tabulated (November 2020)
• Live Television News Commentary on the first Trump/Biden Debate (November 2020)
• Live Television Interview about the Criminal Implications of the Release of the Transcript of the Trump/Zelensky telephone conversation (September 2019)
• Live Television news commentary on the wave of anti-abortion legislation imposing criminal penalties reaching the US Supreme Court (May 2019)