Professor Binion is a specialist in Public Law, focused on courts and politics. Her research interests include civil rights and civil liberties within the U.S. constitutional structure, with special emphasis on the status of women, ethnic minorities and the poor. She is particularly interested in understanding the role of the judiciary in defining and protecting constitutional rights.

Her articles have appeared in such journals as The Supreme Court Review, Human Rights Quarterly, Judicature, Law & Society Review, Journal of Supreme Court History, Human Rights Quarterly, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, Policy Studies Review, Social Science Quarterly, Berkeley Women’s Law Journal, Women & Politics, Law & Politics Quarterly, Journal of Urban Law, Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, and Western Political Quarterly. She has also contributed chapters to various books and compendia, most recently a study of the 1963 Equal Pay Act.  She has also published widely in more popular media including The Center Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Beverly Hills Bar Journal, Sacramento Bee, andSanta Barbara News-Press. Her current work focuses on two projects: the future of race or gender-consciousness and on the application of the Second Amendment.

From 2001 to 2003, Professor Binion served as Vice Chair and Chair of the University-wide Academic Senate, representing UC faculty at the Office of the President and on the Board of Regents. More recently, 2004-2006, she was the Director of UC Education Abroad at California House in London, UK.  In 2008, she received the Oliver Johnson Award from the University-wide Academic Senate for "Distinguished and Sustained Service" to the Academic Senate, and an Outstanding Mentor Award from the Women's Caucus for Political Science.