I’m a graduate student at the University of Michigan and Stanford Law School.

I’m currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Michigan and a JD student at Stanford Law School. My research lies in the union of legal theory, political philosophy, and epistemology. What unites much of my research is a focus on interactions between non-ideal agents, asking: how should we build our institutions in light of the often unpredictable, sometimes harmful, and yes — beautiful — ways in which human beings (and our institutions) mess up.

My early-stage dissertation work tentatively explores the delegation of legal authority. Our legal institutions regularly delegate their authority: states delegate authority to cities; legislatures delegate their authority to agencies; courts may delegate their authority to certain factfinders. And in recent years, courts have begun to pay special attention to instances demanding “non-delegation.” But legal theorists have yet to clarify what delegation is and when it is legitimate. My dissertation works to provide—and in some instances critique—the role of delegation in constitutional and administrative law.

Before graduate school, I worked in international human rights, especially environmental advocacy. Most recently, I helped work to expose the racial inequities within a corporate buyout scheme in southwest Louisiana. Before that, I graduated with a BA in Philosophy and German Studies from Stanford and studied in Germany. For all the specifics, you can see my bio page.

You can best reach me at jrpeter[at]umich[dot]edu, making the conventional substitutions.

Some research keywords: non-delegation, Article III standing, administrative adjudication, federalism, algorithmic administrative law, strict liability, responsibility and culpability, market share liability, statistical evidence, environmental justice, pollution burden, interstate cooperation, political economy.