Author Archive

Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf
Conor Friedersdorf is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He lives in Venice, California, and is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.
Management

Police Reform Is Popular. Rioting Is Not.

COMMENTARY | Once the fires are out, what is the best way to secure justice?

Management

Mass Surveillance Is Coming to a City Near You

COMMENTARY | A tech entrepreneur wants to track the residents of a high-crime American community.

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The Dangers of a Mandatory DNA Database

COMMENTARY | A controversy in Arizona is a portent of future public-policy fights.

Management

A Police Killing Without a Hint of Racism

Daniel Shaver begged officers not to shoot him. What role will his death play in the push for law-enforcement reforms?

Workforce

The Disappearing Right to Earn a Living

Want to become a florist in Louisiana? A home-entertainment installer in Connecticut? Or a barber anywhere? You’re going to need a license for that—and it’s going to cost you.

Management

How Venice Beach Became a Neighborhood for the Wealthy

... and what that means for affordable housing across the country

Management

Federalism Is Dead, Long Live Federalism

A Yale law professor argues that America has moved past the relationship among states that the Framers envisioned––but that a new federalism is serving the country well in its stead.

Management

Utah May Bring Back the Firing Squad to Kill Death-Row Inmates

The executions of death-row inmates would be barbaric, but perhaps preferable to lethal injections.

Management

Can California Textbooks Criticize Slave Traders?

A quirk in the Golden State's anti-discrimination law

Management

Ballot-Measure Results: An Election 2014 Highlight Reel

A survey of direct democracy on subjects from abortion to bear-hunting-with-donuts to wage increases for workers at the bottom.

Management

Life With Legal Weed in Boulder, Colorado

A conversation with middle-aged moms, homeless men, and college kids about post-prohibition marijuana.