Jon Feingold

Jonathan Feingold

Associate Professor


BA, Vassar College
JD, UCLA School of Law


Biography

Jonathan Feingold’s scholarship explores the relationship between race, law, and the mind sciences. Much of his recent research has interrogated how and why various American legal regimes, including equal protection doctrine, function to reinforce and reproduce racial hierarchy. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in the California Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Utah Law Review, and Temple Law Review. Representative publications include “SFFA v. Harvard: How Affirmative Action Myths Mask White Bonus,” “Hidden in Plain Sight: a More Compelling Case for Diversity,” “Eyes Wide Open: What Social Science Can Tell Us About the Supreme Court’s Use of Social Science” (with Evelyn Carter), and “Defusing Implicit Bias” (with Karen Lorang). Jonathan also hosts #RaceClass, a monthly conversation that explores how race and racism remain powerful forces in American society.

From 2015 through 2019, Feingold served as special assistant to the vice chancellor for equity, diversity & inclusion at the University of California, Los Angeles and was a research fellow in BruinX, a research and development team within the Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. He is the co-founder of illuminate diversity consulting, a private consulting firm that employs an interdisciplinary approach to foster inclusion through candid, data-driven conversation. 

Feingold received his BA from Vassar College and holds a JD from UCLA School of Law, where he graduated with a specialization in critical race studies. After law school, he joined Sidley Austin LLP as an associate in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He then clerked for the Hon. Richard C. Wesley of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Hon. Dale S. Fischer of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. 

In 2014, he received a California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year Award for work done in connection with Rodriguez v. Robbins, a case concerning immigrant detainees’ rights to bond hearings.  

Publications

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  • Jonathan Feingold, Ambivalent Advocates: Why Elite Universities Compromised the Case for Affirmative Action 58 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review (2023)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Colorblind Capture 102 Boston University Law Review (2022)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Brief of Legal Scholars Defending Race-Conscious Admissions as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents, SFFA v. Harvard (20-1199) and SFFA v. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (21-707)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold & Devon Carbado, Rewriting Whren v. United States 68 UCLA Law Review (2022)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Reclaiming Equality: How Regressive Laws Can Advance Progressive Ends 73 South Carolina Law Review (2022)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Civil Rights Catch 22s 43 Cardozo Law Review (2022)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Angela Onwuachi-Willig & Jonathan Feingold, Critical Race Judgments: Rewritten U.S. Court Opinions on Race and Law (2022)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Deficit Frame Dangers 37 Georgia State University Law Review (2021)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, "All (Poor) Lives Matter": How Class-Not-Race Logic Reinscribes Race and Class Privilege University of Chicago Law Review Online (2020)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, SFFA v. Harvard: How Affirmative Action Myths Mask White Bonus 107 California Law Review (2019)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Equal Protection Design Defects 91 Temple Law Review (2019)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Diversity Drift 9 Wake Forest Law Review Online (2019)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Hidden in Plain Sight: A More Compelling Case for Diversity 2019 Utah Law Review (2019)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold & Evelyn Carter, Eyes Wide Open: What Social Science Can Tell Us About the Supreme Court's Use of Social Science 112 Northwestern University Law Review Online (2018)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold & Doug Souza, Measuring the Racial Unevenness of Law School 15 Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy (2013)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold & Karen Lorang, Defusing Implicit Bias 59 UCLA Law Review Discourse (2012)
    Scholarly Commons
  • Jonathan Feingold, Racing Towards Colorblindness: Stereotype Threat and the Myth of Meritocracy 3 Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives (2011)
    Scholarly Commons

In the Media

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  • Boston Globe August 17, 2023

    Students Must Use Names, Pronouns Assigned at Birth under New Worcester Catholic School Policy

    Jonathan Feingold is quoted.
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  • Oxford Human Rights Hub August 10, 2023

    After SFFA v. Harvard, Universities Must Hold the Line

    Jonathan Feingold pens an opinion.
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  • The Harvard Crimson July 28, 2023

    Legal Experts Divided over Whether Ed Blum’s Letter to Schools Adheres to SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling

    Jonathan Feingold is quoted.
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  • Newsweek July 25, 2023

    The Real Threat to Free Speech Is Coming from the Right | Opinion

    Jonathan Feingold pens an opinion.
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  • The Harvard Crimson July 21, 2023

    Did Harvard Intentionally Discriminate? In Admissions Discrimination Suit, the Supreme Court Doesn’t Say

    Aziza Ahmed and Jonathan Feingold are quoted.
    read more

  • Pacifica Radio July 5, 2023

    This Week on Sprouts: Class Can’t Do the Work of Race

    Jonathan Feingold cohosts a podcast.
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  • CityLine WCVB July 2, 2023

    What’s Next for Students with the End of Affirmative Action

    Jonathan Feingold is interviewed.
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  • Boston25 June 30, 2023

    Mass. Reacts to Supreme Court Decision to Restrict Race-Based College Admissions

    Jonathan Feingold is interviewed.
    read more

  • Morning Edition

    Unraveling the Impacts of the Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling

    Jonathan Feingold is interviewed
    read more

  • Newsweek June 29, 2023

    Justice Roberts Chose Colorblindness Over the Constitution

    Jonathan Feingold pens an opinion.
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  • MassLive

    SCOTUS Strikes Down Affirmative Action, a Major Blow to College Diversity

    Jonathan Feingold is quoted.
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  • BU Today

    Supreme Court Guts Affirmative Action in College Admissions, Provides Scant Guidance for Universities

    Jonathan Feingold is interviewed
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  • WNHN.org June 28, 2023

    #RaceClass Episode 19: Some Affirmative Action Myths

    Jonathan Feingold cohosts a podcast.
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  • MassLive June 27, 2023

    Mass. Student Fears Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling May Kill College Plans

    Jonathan Feingold is quoted.
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  • POLITICO June 16, 2023

    How White People Stole Affirmative Action — and Ensured Its Demise

    Jonathan Feingold is quoted.
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