Broadly interested in social stratification and spatial dimensions of inequality, his research examines the intersection of civil rights, land use, and local government law. His recent scholarship has explored these themes in the context of immigration federalism, residential segregation, lending discrimination, environmental justice, and mass incarceration. Prior to academia, he clerked for judges on federal trial and appellate courts, worked as advocacy director for a non-profit fighting predatory lending practices, urban planner for an environmental justice organization focusing on brownfield redevelopment, program manager for a project bringing youth and prisoners into critical dialogues about justice, and trainer with a domestic violence crisis center training police in Ciudad Juárez in the support of survivors of sexual assault. He has taught in prisons and jails for more than 20 years.