I am the Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law at NYU Law School, where I teach criminal law, criminal procedure, and legal history. My book, Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom (Harvard University Press 2019), has been reviewed widely, including in The New Yorker, listed in Smithsonian Magazine’s ‘Ten Best History Books of 2019,’ and cited in judicial opinions. In addition to publishing in academic journals, I’ve written for The Atlantic, Boston Review, Lapham’s Quarterly, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Since the publication of Policing the Open Road, I’ve been advocating for the removal of civil traffic law enforcement from police duties. I am also working on a new book project on the history of conspiracy laws.
Before joining Columbia, I spent four years at Iowa Law School. I received my A.B. and Ph.D. in history, both at Princeton, and J.D. at Columbia Law School. Between law school and grad school, I clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.