Kenneth W. Mack is a historian and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2000. He is a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and worked as an electrical engineer before turning to law, and history. His research and writing have focused on the legal and constitutional history of American race relations. He has written and lectured widely in these areas. He has also written opinion pieces for the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, and other popular media. During the 2008 Presidential election cycle, he was interviewed by a number of national television and print media outlets about his former law school classmate, Barack Obama. Before joining the faculty at Harvard Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and practiced law in the Washington, D.C. office of the firm, Covington & Burling