Experts

Rachel Augustine Potter

Fast Facts

  • Associate professor of politics, University of Virginia
  • Winner, American Political Science Association's Theodore Lowi Award for the best first book in any field of political science
  • Expertise in the hidden politics of procedure and process, government bureaucracy, regulation

Areas Of Expertise

  • Economic Issues
  • Finance and Banking
  • Governance
  • Founding and Shaping of the Nation
  • Leadership
  • Politics
  • The Presidency

Rachel Augustine Potter is an associate professor of politics at the University of Virginia and a senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs. Her first book, Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking in the Bureaucracy (University of Chicago Press, 2019), received the American Political Science Association's Theodore Lowi award for the best first book in any field of political science, APSA's Richard Neustadt award for the best book on executive politics, APSA's Herbert A. Simon book award for contributions to public administration scholarship, and the National Academy of Public Administration's Louis Brownlow award for the best book on public administration. 

Potter's other research has appeared in political science, public policy, public administration, and administrative law journals. She has served as an expert witness before Congress, a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, and as the president of the Midwest Public Administration Caucus. Before becoming a political scientist, she worked for a number of government bureaucracies, including the White House Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Rachel Augustine Potter News Feed

UVA’s nonpartisan Miller Center of Public Affairs convenes presidential experts—dozens of leading Democrats and Republicans, scholars from across the country, and top journalists—for the second biennial Conference on the American Presidency, a series of constructive conversations about the modern presidency.
Guian McKee, Rachel Potter, Andrew Rudalevige, William Antholis, Alexander Bick, Everett Eissenstat, Mara Rudman, Sarah Wilson, Sidney Milkis, Louisa Terrell, Ashley Deeks, Eric Edelman, Saikrishna Prakash, Russell Riley, Allan Stam, and Philip Zelikow Miller Center Presents
Rachel Potter examines how likely Trump’s personnel cuts are to survive
Rachel Potter
For 50 years, the Miller Center has convened bipartisan groups of scholars and practitioners to enrich scholarly research and help shape public policy. Join us for a roundtable discussion on public policy in three critical areas: healthcare, national security, and executive branch reform. Each policy area will feature an historian paired with an experienced government practitioner to discuss perspectives on responsible and effective public policy.
David Leblang, Bob Strong, Marc Selverstone, Rachel Potter, Guian McKee, and Mara Rudman Miller Center Presents
“Totally normal for presidents to take office and issue executive orders,” Potter said. “Where Trump differs is in the volume and executive orders and their provocative nature. Some of these are really pressing the boundaries of what powers belong from the Constitution to the president and what powers belong to the Congress.”
Rachel Potter 29 News
“Executive orders cannot create new laws, appropriate funds or override existing legislation; those are powers reserved for Congress,” said Melody Barnes, executive director of UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy. “They must be rooted in existing constitutional or statutory authority, and they can be challenged in court or overturned by subsequent administrations.”
Melody Barnes, Rachel Augustine Potter, and Sidney Milkis UVA Today
Schedule F could lead to 50,000 or more firings and “would be a massive reshaping of the federal work force,” said Rachel Augustine Potter, an associate professor at the University of Virginia who studies the federal bureaucracy.
Rachel Potter The New York Times