Joshua A. Douglas is the Acting Associate Dean for Research, the Ashland, Inc.-Spears Distinguished Research Professor of Law, and a University Research Professor at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law (that is a long title!). He teaches and researches election law and voting rights, civil procedure, constitutional law, and judicial decision making. He is the author of Vote for US: How to Take Back our Elections and Change the Future of Voting (Prometheus Books 2019), a popular press book that provides hope and inspiration for a positive path forward on voting rights. His latest book is The Court v. The Voters: The Troubling Story of How the Supreme Court Has Undermined Voting Rights (Beacon Press 2024).

His most recent legal scholarship focuses on the constitutional right to vote, with an emphasis on state constitutions, as well as the various laws, rules, and judicial decisions impacting election administration. He has also written extensively on election law procedure.

Professor Douglas has published in top journals, including the Georgetown Law Journal, Penn Law Review Online, Vanderbilt Law Review, Washington University Law Review, George Washington Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, and the Election Law Journal, among others. His article Procedural Fairness in Election Contests was a winner of the 2011-12 SEALS Call for Papers, and his scholarship has been cited by several courts and in major law review articles and books.

He is also a co-author of an Election Law case book (Aspen Publishers 2014, 2021) and a co-editor of Election Law Stories (Foundation Press 2016). In addition, his media commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today, Reuters, Politico, Atlantic, Washington Monthly, Huffington Post, and Slate, among others, and he has been quoted in major newspapers throughout the country. He appeared live on CNN on Election Day 2016.

Professor Douglas was the recipient of the 2019 Duncan Teaching Award at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law. Further, he was the founder and initial Chair of the AALS Section on Election Law. He also served as a Fulbright Specialist at LUISS University in Rome, Italy and has engaged in several other international collaborations. 

In 2024, Professor Douglas created a radio series and podcast through NPR affiliate WEKU called Democracy Optimist. The program delves deep into the heart of democratic processes, elections, and voting rights to ask a simple but vital question: how do we sustain our democracy?

Prior to joining UK, Professor Douglas clerked for the Honorable Edward C. Prado of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and practiced litigation at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Professor Douglas earned his J.D. from George Washington University Law School, where he was an articles editor on the GW Law Review.

Professor Douglas enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, watching baseball (go Nationals!), playing guitar, training for marathons (he has run 5!), eating tacos, listening to the music from the musical Hamilton, and traveling the country and the world.