Johns Hopkins Experts Available to Discuss Jan. 6 Committee Hearings

Tonight, the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack will hold the first of a series of public hearings to present its findings. Johns Hopkins University faculty are available to offer insight and perspective on the hearings.

Available experts include:

Benjamin Ginsberg, David Bernstein Professor of Political Science and chair of the Hopkins Center for Advanced Governmental Studies in Washington, DC. Ginsberg’s research interests include American politics, Jewish history, higher education policy, and the societal impact of war and violence. He is currently working on a survey-based study of the ways in which competing political forces seek to manipulate history and re-predict the future entitled, Warping Time. Ginsberg can provide commentary on political violence and fragility of democracy in the U.S.

Robert Lieberman, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science. Lieberman studies American political development, race and American politics, and public policy. He has also written extensively about the development of American democracy and the links between American and comparative politics. Lieberman can discuss the potential political impact of new information presented during the hearings.

Lilliana Mason, SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of Political Science. Mason’s research focuses on partisan identity, partisan bias, social sorting, and American social polarization. Her book, Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity, examines the growing social gulf across racial, religious, and cultural lines, which have recently come to divide neatly between the two major political parties. Mason can comment on the use of violent rhetoric and threats to democracy.