John (Jack) Deschler | Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School

About Me

I am a joint JD/PhD student at Harvard Law School (expected graduation 2026, 1L completed) and the Harvard Kennedy School (Public Policy program, Politics and Institutions Track). I’ve always searched for intersections in my academic career; as an undergraduate, I combined computer and political science, and now, between HKS and Harvard Law, I hope to toe the line between political science and legal research. I am fascinated by the vast number of unanswered legal questions that political scientists have the tools to examine, and hope to use my training in both disciplines to further understand the American legal system. I aim to teach law from an empirical perspective, hoping to broaden the statistical knowledge of the legal profession on a larger scale.

Research Interests

Judicial Politics: appointments, retirements, polarization
Judicial Decisionmaking: factors that go into judicial decisions, tracking downstream effects, relationship between different court levels
Empirical Legal Studies: jurisdictional boundaries, judicial administration, models of American courts

My research experience includes work with Professors Maya Sen (HKS), Justin de Benedictis-Kessner (HKS), Larry Schwartztol (HLS), Jim Waldo (Harvard Computer Science/HKS) and the Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program.

Publications

The New Machine Politics: Identifying Partisans Through Their Browsing History

John Deschler

Senior Thesis in Government and Computer Science

PDF High Honors.

Teaching

Graduate

Civil Procedure, Prof. D. James Greiner, Harvard Law. Teaching Fellow Fall 2023.

Undegraduate

"Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties," Dr. Gabe Katsh, Harvard Summer School. Summer 2019.
Applied Computation 221, "Critical Thinking for Data Science," Prof. Jim Waldo, Harvard Kennedy School. Teaching Fellow Spring 2019.
Computer Science 105, "Privacy and Technology," Prof. Jim Waldo, Harvard College. Teaching Fellow Fall 2018.
Computer Science 50, "Introduction to Computer Science I," Prof. David J. Malan, Harvard College. Senior Teaching Fellow Fall 2016 and 2017. Derek Bok Center Certificate for Distinction in Teaching, Fall 2016.

Education, Experience, and (non-Research) Interests

I hold a B.A. from Harvard College in Computer Science and Government, with a secondary in Energy and Environment. Along with my JD and PhD, I am pursuing a Masters in Statistics. I am an active member of the Harvard Journal on Legislation, serving as an Exectutive Articles Editor for Volumes 60 and 61. I coordinate the Kennedy School PhD Students Association mentoring program for incoming G1 students, and play for the Harvard Law School soccer team in a Boston-area graduate school league. Outside of school, I coach youth rock climbing at Boston Bouldering Project, play competitive ultimate frisbee for Boston League of Shadows, and enjoy surfing (poorly). I also once wrote a full-length musical about the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

My previous experience includes a variety of research and teaching positions (listed above). Between college and graduate school, I worked for the Voter Protection Corps, the Michigan Democratic Party during the 2020 campaign, and then on the redistricting process at the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group. After my first year of law school, I interned at the solicitor’s office in the Department of the Interior.