Cedric Merlin Powell received his B.A. with Honors in Politics from Oberlin College and his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the NYU Review of Law & Social Change. Professor Powell served as a law clerk to the Honorable Julia Cooper Mack of the D.C. Court of Appeals; he was a Karpatkin Fellow in the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union; and he practiced as a litigation associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York. Professor Powell’s articles have appeared in the Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal, Harvard Journal on Racial & Ethnic Justice, Howard Law Journal, University of Miami Law Review, Saint Louis University Public Law Review, Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, and the Utah Law Review. His most recent paper, "The Post Racial Deception of the Roberts Court," was published in Issue 1, Volume 77, of the SMU Law Review.

Professor Powell’s book, Post-Racial Constitutionalism and the Roberts Court: Rhetorical Neutrality and the Perpetuation of Inequality, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023. He is also co-editor of Racial Justice in American Land Use with Craig Anthony Arnold, Laura Rothstein, and Cate Fosl, co-editors (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press). Another book, Post-Racial Federalism Race, Liberty, and the Democratization of Oppression, also is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

Professor Powell was awarded the Justice William E. McAnulty, Jr., Trailblazer Award by the Louisville Bar Association, the first law professor to be so honored. He was named Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs Professor of Law and Outstanding Faculty Member in 2019. He was awarded the 2018 University Distinguished Faculty Service Award for Career Exemplary Service and the University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2021. He currently is Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C.