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| Elliot Cohen (legal scholar) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Elliot Cohen |
| Birth date | 1955 |
| Birth place | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | Legal scholar, professor, attorney |
| Known for | Constitutional law, criminal law, federal courts |
| Alma mater | Harvard College, Yale Law School |
| Employer | Columbia Law School, United States Department of Justice |
Elliot Cohen (legal scholar) is an American legal scholar, attorney, and professor known for contributions to constitutional law, criminal procedure, and federal jurisdiction. He has held academic posts at major law schools, served in senior positions in the United States Department of Justice, and written influential treatises and articles cited by courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. His work bridges doctrinal analysis, historical sources, and comparative perspectives on judicial power.
Cohen was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in a family engaged with civic institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology affiliates and local bar associations. He completed undergraduate studies at Harvard College with a concentration in legal history and political theory, studying alongside peers who entered careers at The New York Times and The Federalist Society. He earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where he served on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal and studied with scholars associated with the American Constitution Society and the Federal Judicial Center. During law school he clerked with judges involved in litigation that reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Cohen joined the faculty of Columbia Law School after a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brookings Institution and a visiting appointment at Stanford Law School. He has taught courses on constitutional law, criminal procedure, and federal courts while supervising seminars connected to clinical work with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Visiting professorships included terms at University of Chicago Law School and New York University School of Law. He has chaired faculty committees coordinating exchanges with the Yale Law School and international programs with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law.
Cohen’s scholarship addresses separation-of-powers disputes exemplified by decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, statutory interpretation controversies involving the Judiciary Act of 1789, and doctrines in criminal process shaped by precedents like Miranda v. Arizona and Gideon v. Wainwright. His monograph on federal jurisdiction was published by Oxford University Press and has been cited in briefs before the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He authored a widely used casebook co-published with faculty from Harvard Law School and Yale Law School that surveys federal jurisdiction, habeas corpus, and separation-of-powers litigation.
Cohen’s articles in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, and Stanford Law Review examine topics including Article III limits, prosecutorial discretion tied to decisions like United States v. Nixon, and the historical role of the Judiciary Act. He contributed chapters to volumes published by the American Bar Association and the Institute for Constitutional Studies, and his empirical work on sentencing patterns drew on datasets maintained by the United States Sentencing Commission.
Before entering academia, Cohen served as a clerk for a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and practiced at a law firm with representations in matters before the United States Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals. He served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice in the Office of Legal Counsel, providing memoranda on separation-of-powers questions and advising on litigation strategy in cases filed in the District of Columbia and federal trial courts. He has consulted for the Legal Aid Society and provided pro bono representation in cases litigated at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Cohen has acted as an expert witness before congressional committees including hearings convened by the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary and advisory panels organized by the Federal Judicial Conference. He participated in rulemaking advisory groups for the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.
Cohen’s honors include a fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the AALS Section Award for scholarship in constitutional law, and a research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He received teaching awards from Columbia Law School and was a visiting scholar at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. His book on federal jurisdiction won a prize from the Association of American Law Schools.
Cohen lives in New York City and has been active with civic organizations such as the New York Bar Association and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Former students have taken clerkships on the Supreme Court of the United States, appointments at the Department of Justice, and faculty positions at law schools including Harvard Law School and New York University School of Law, reflecting his influence on successive generations. His writings continue to shape debates about the balance among the Judiciary Act of 1789, executive authority, and legislative oversight, and his archival donations to the Library of Congress and the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library support ongoing research.
Category:American legal scholars Category:Columbia Law School faculty Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Yale Law School alumni