Jonathon Booth is a historian of democracy, race, law, and policing in the United States. He teaches courses including Criminal Law, American Legal History, and Law and History of Policing. Jonathon's research reaches from the mid-nineteenth century to the present and focuses on the practical impact of law and its enforcement - in other words, how the law tangibly affects Americans. His recent articles include: A New Satanic Panic, 36 Yale J. L. & Feminism 102 (2025); Policing after Slavery: Race, Law, and Resistance in Atlanta, 96 Colo. L. Rev. 1 (2025); and The Cycle of Delegitimization: Lessons From Dred Scott on the Relationship Between the Supreme Court and the Nation, 51 UC Law Constitutional Quarterly 5 (2024). He is currently working on an article titled The Legal Architecture of Emancipation, describes the full range of new laws passed by Southern states after Reconstruction that, although formally race neutral, served to cement white political and economic power. He is also at the early stages of a book project titled Policing the Rural South, 1850-2020. Before coming to Colorado, Jonathon was the Legal History Fellow at the Harvard History Design Studio and clerked for the Hon. Barrington D. Parker on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Hon. Kevin McNulty on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. in History from Harvard University in 2021 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2019. He received his B.A. in History and Economics, joint honours, from McGill University.
keywords
Policing; Emancipation; Reconstruction
Teaching
courses taught
LAWS 6708 - Special Topics
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2024
Explores special topics in law. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours.
