James A. Gardner is Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad Professor of Civil Justice at the University at Buffalo Law School, State University of New York, where he also directs the Edwin F. Jaeckle Center for State and Local Democracy. After earning a BA from Yale University and a JD from the University of Chicago, Gardner practiced law at the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, in Washington, D.C. He subsequently taught at Western New England College School of Law, William and Mary, and the University of Connecticut before coming to the University of Buffalo in 2001.
Gardner's research interests include the theoretical foundations of the constitutional structure of politics, the institutionalization through law of principles of democracy, constitutional structures of federalism, and subnational constitutional law. He is the author or editor of five books and more than forty articles.