Meet Professor Christine Chabot
At a time when the limits of presidential authority are being tested like never before, Professor Christine Chabot is helping shape the national conversation. A scholar of administrative and constitutional law at Marquette University Law School, Chabot brings a historian’s depth and a lawyer’s precision to some of the most pressing legal questions of our time — from the scope of executive power to the independence of federal agencies. Her work, both in the classroom and in her scholarship, explores how legal frameworks influence the balance of power in American democracy.
Her research sits at the core of today’s constitutional conflicts: the boundaries of presidential power, the independence of federal agencies, and the balance of forces within our democracy. “I think we’re at a shift in paradigm,” Chabot said. “There is an argument emerging, maybe not for balance between the branches of government, but for complete dominance by the executive. One of the big [questions] that is ongoing and that features both current and past research is the unitary executive debate: how strong of a president do we have under Article II?”
That tension is at the heart of her recent article, Rejecting the Unitary Executive, which is forthcoming in the Utah Law Review. The piece challenges expansive readings of Article II of the Constitution with evidence of historical understandings that presidents could not fire executive officials at will and sidestep limits imposed by Congress. “There are questions not just about what the history is, but how to turn that history into a framework that a judge could actually use in deciding a case,” Chabot said.
As a scholar, Chabot bridges the classroom and courtroom. Her constitutional law and administrative law courses invite students to dissect precedent, power, and political influence with a critical eye. “You might not always agree with what the law allows, but as a lawyer, you need to separate your political views from legal reality,” said Chabot.
Currently, Chabot is also working on research related to other issues of power imbalances between branches of government, including “a related but slightly different separation of powers topic — a paper on nondelegation under Loper Bright,” said Chabot. In 2024, the Supreme Court’s decision in this case shifted power away from agencies and the executive by ending Chevron deference.
Whether in scholarly journals, the courtroom of ideas, or the classroom itself, Professor Chabot is equipping future lawyers to navigate — and question — the shifting landscape of constitutional authority. As debates over executive power, agency independence, and the separation of powers continue to intensify, her work offers not only a critical legal perspective but also a call for thoughtful, historically grounded analysis. “These questions aren’t going away,” Chabot said. “And that’s what makes the study of law — and the teaching of it — endlessly important.”
Chabot’s constitutional and administrative law scholarship focuses on agency and judicial independence, separation of powers, and the history of the administrative state. Her work has been or is about to be published in leading journals including the Virginia Law Review, the Fordham Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the Georgia Law Review, the Connecticut Law Review, the Hastings Law Journal, the Utah Law Review, and the Administrative Law Review. Her research has been cited by the United States Supreme Court and featured in media such as The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, CNN, the ABA Journal, The Atlantic, and The Economist.
Before coming to Marquette, Chabot was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and served as Associate Director for Regulation at Loyola’s Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies. She has extensive experience teaching in the areas of administrative law and regulation, antitrust, and sales. Chabot also clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Jane R. Roth and practiced at national law firms. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Notre Dame Law School and holds a B.A. from Northwestern University.