Ari Melber

@arimelber

Ari Melber is The Nation's Net movement correspondent, covering politics, law, public policy and new media, and a regular contributor to the magazine's blog. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a J.D. from Cornell Law School, where he was an editor of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy.

Contact Ari: on Facebook, on Twitter, and at [email protected].

Melber is also an attorney, a columnist for Politico and a contributing editor at techPresident, a nonpartisan website covering technology’s impact on democracy. During the 2008 general election, he traveled with the Obama Campaign on special assignment for The Washington Independent.

He previously served as a Legislative Aide in the US Senate and as a national staff member of the 2004 John Kerry Presidential Campaign.

As a commentator on public affairs, Melber frequently speaks on national television and radio, including including appearances on NBC, CNBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, C-SPAN, MSNBC, Bloomberg News, FOX News, and NPR, on programs such as “The Today Show,” “American Morning,” “Washington Journal,” “Power Lunch,” "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," "The Joy Behar Show," “The Dylan Ratigan Show,” and “The Daily Rundown,” among others. Melber has also been a featured speaker at Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Columbia, NYU, The Center for American Progress and many other institutions. He has contributed chapters or essays to the books “America Now,” (St. Martins, 2009), “At Issue: Affirmative Action,” (Cengage, 2009), and “MoveOn’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country,” (Inner Ocean Publishing, 2004).  His reporting  has been cited by a wide range of news organizations, academic journals and nonfiction books, including the The Washington Post, The New York Times, ABC News, NBC News, CNN, FOX News, National Review Online, The New England Journal of Medicine and Boston University Law Review.  He is a member of the American Constitution Society, he serves on the advisory board of the Roosevelt Institute and lives in Manhattan.

 

Court Stops Congressional Attempt to Defund ACORN Court Stops Congressional Attempt to Defund ACORN

ACORN finally won a round in its battle with Congress and the Obama administration on Friday, as a federal court ruled the United States acted unconstitutionally by targeting the o...

Dec 11, 2009 / Ari Melber

Change Comes to BarackObama.com Change Comes to BarackObama.com

An Internet strategist for President Bush's reelection campaign and one of the few new media leaders for the GOP, Patrick Ruffini, cut a video Friday analyzing some new recruitment...

Dec 4, 2009 / Ari Melber

Poll: Young People Back Obama, Disapprove of His Major Policies Poll: Young People Back Obama, Disapprove of His Major Policies

A new Harvard poll finds that President Obama is holding on to his strongest supporters, voters under 30, though they overwhelmingly oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan. Abo...

Dec 3, 2009 / Ari Melber

With Harvard’s Help, Congress May Keep Bloggers Out of Jail With Harvard’s Help, Congress May Keep Bloggers Out of Jail

It's hard out here for a blogger. And hard for online journalists, unemployed new media producers, and just about anyone else dabbling in journalism without professional backing. ...

Nov 19, 2009 / Ari Melber

Newsweek Taps Bush Aide For Obama Reporting (Updated) Newsweek Taps Bush Aide For Obama Reporting (Updated)

See if you can follow this logic. A recent article in Newsweek states that Democrats could have won a "very significant number of Republican votes in Congress" for the s...

Nov 17, 2009 / Ari Melber

Obama’s Organizing Army Finally Targets Republicans Obama’s Organizing Army Finally Targets Republicans

In an unusually aggressive move, Organizing for America announced Wednesday that it is mobilizing its volunteer army to confront the 32 Republican legislators who voted against hea...

Nov 12, 2009 / Ari Melber

Obama, Democrats Face Liberal Fundraising Boycott Obama, Democrats Face Liberal Fundraising Boycott

Politico's lead story today tracks how both progressive and conservative activists are using intramural fundraising threats to challenge the party establishment. For Democrats, th...

Nov 12, 2009 / Ari Melber

Video: Michelle Obama Hits Sesame St., Republicans Slam Oscar Video: Michelle Obama Hits Sesame St., Republicans Slam Oscar

Sesame Street hits the airwaves for its 40th season on Tuesday, with a guest appearance by First Lady and Gardener-in-Chief Michelle Obama. In the segment, Ms. Obama huddles with ...

Nov 9, 2009 / Ari Melber

Promises Kept and Broken, One Year Later Promises Kept and Broken, One Year Later

There are the things the president is doing that he said he would do. These actions can draw plenty of criticism, but not genuine shock. Then there are the things he is not doing w...

Nov 4, 2009 / Ari Melber

Twitter Tweaks Social Media with New Lists Feature Twitter Tweaks Social Media with New Lists Feature

Twitter, the over-hyped, under-appreciated social network for sharing chit-chat and links, just launched a tool enabling users to create their own lists on the site. The Journal ex...

Oct 30, 2009 / Ari Melber

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