Richard Rothstein is an American academic and author affiliated with the Economic Policy Institute, and a senior fellow (emeritus) at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

[1][2] His current research focuses on the history of segregation in the United States with regards to education and housing.

Rothstein was then affiliated with the Haas Institute at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

[4] His 2017 book, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, argues that racial housing segregation is the result of government policy at all levels—federal, state, and local.

[5] A review in The New York Times said that there was "no better history" of housing segregation, while Rachel Cohen of Slate called The Color of Law "essential.