I left the Justice Department at the end of January 2020, after several years prosecuting large-scale financial fraud and with one year left in Donald Trump's first term. The Trump administration's management of the DOJ had been disastrous even then. Within weeks, the pandemic hit, and like everyone else, I had a lot of time on my hands.
I started writing to pass the time, and much to my own surprise, I was lucky to get some good opportunities very quickly. At that point, I made two commitments to myself — that I would try to write for every outlet that I actually liked to read, and that I would keep doing it as long as I found the work interesting, challenging, and rewarding.
Background
The Path Here
I've been the legal affairs columnist for Politico and New York Magazine, and I've contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, The Atlantic, TIME, WIRED, USA Today, Slate, The American Prospect, and Columbia Journalism Review.
I regularly provide legal commentary on television, radio, and podcasts, including MS NOW, CNN, NPR, BBC, and C-SPAN, as well as other international news channels in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, India, Australia, Italy, and more.
Areas of Focus
What I Cover
The law doesn't operate in a vacuum. Understanding what's happening legally often requires understanding the political and electoral landscape — and vice versa.
Philosophy
"The law can and should be accessible to everyone."
When I started writing, I saw a gap. Legal commentary at the time was skewed toward telling people what they wanted to hear, and it often assumed that readers were either uninterested in legal nuances or incapable of understanding them. I strongly reject that idea.
The Standard
My goal is to give readers the kind of analysis that a paying client deserves: to the point, accessible, and honest, both about the full range of possibilities in any given situation and the likely outcomes as a practical matter.
That means being clear not just about what I think, but about how I think about it — so that readers can understand why they agree or disagree with me.
That sometimes requires making arguments that aren't popular with your natural audience. Between late 2020 and 2022, I argued repeatedly that Trump needed to be promptly criminally investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted after leaving office, particularly given his effort to overturn the 2020 election results. I turned out to be more right than I imagined about the need. The timing was another matter.
Method
How I Work
I try to focus on how lawyers and the DOJ actually operate — not just in theory, but in practice — based on my own experience as a lawyer and my time as a federal prosecutor. That shapes how I read decisions, charging documents, and institutional behavior. But legal analysis alone isn't enough.
I'm interested in the intersection of law and politics, which means I actually talk to the people involved: national politicians, congressional staffers, prominent lawyers, foreign diplomats, and more. That kind of sourcing is rarer than it should be in legal commentary, and it changes how you think and what you're able to tell the audience.
Who I Talk To
- National politicians & members of Congress
- Congressional staffers
- Prominent lawyers
- Foreign diplomats
- Current & former DOJ officials
Most of what I've written has come in the form of columns — sometimes reported, sometimes analytic, sometimes argumentative in nature — and long-form features, but I've also commissioned and designed polls, convened debates among lawyers and roundtables among journalists, reported news and news-y things (few people read it, but I really liked this piece), published book reviews, and written newsletters for insider-types. I enjoy mixing these things up. If I have a perspective on the issue at hand, I try to make that clear to readers no matter what.
Outside the Work
Beyond the Byline
1990s hip-hop and R&B.
Top 5 DOA: Big, Nas, Jay, Jada, Push.
"The Roof" is perhaps my favorite song — a masterclass of singing, songwriting, and production, built off of one of the best rap beats of all time. "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" is a very close second.
Crime. Suspense. Thriller. The occasional horror film.
I'm a fan of crime, thriller, and suspense — in film and on television. I'll watch a mid-tier horror movie and enjoy it without apology.
One of my favorite films is Spike Lee's The 25th Hour.
My volunteer work.
I created a newspaper for 4th and 5th graders at a local public school in my neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Once a week during the school year, I supervise 15–20 kids and work with them to produce a monthly(ish) newspaper. I also bring in guests to speak with the kids about their work.
I'm finishing up my second year as the editor. The kids are wonderful and hilarious. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made.