About

Adam B. Cox is the Robert A. Kindler Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, with expertise in constitutional law, immigration law, and the law of democracy. His work has been published in prominent journals such as the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Journal, and the Journal of Law and Economics, and has been covered by major media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Slate. Cox is the author of the book 'The President and Immigration Law,' which chronicles the history of how the President became the primary immigration policymaker in the United States. His research focuses on the legal regulation of immigration, the constitutional rights of non-citizens, and the broader themes of constitutional law and the administrative state. He explores issues such as the President's power to shape immigration policy, the integration of immigration and criminal justice systems, detention and enforcement policies, and the role of state and local governments in immigration enforcement. Cox's scholarship also examines the legitimacy and cooperation in immigration enforcement, the constitutional powers of Congress, and the legal frameworks governing administrative agencies. He holds a JD from the University of Michigan Law School and a BSE in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Law
• Social Science
• Law and economics
• Social psychology
• Medicine
• Business
• Economic growth
• Natural resource economics
• Public relations
• Ecology
• Economics
• Psychology

Selected publications

• The President and Immigration Law

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 26 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  • Sociology

  The President and Immigration Law reveals how the President has become our immigration policy-maker-in-chief. By deciding how to enforce the law, administrations shape the polity, sometimes clashing with Congress. Rather than lament this dynamic as distorting the Constitution, the authors demonstrate how it can advance the law's legitimacy and outline political principles and institutional devices to curb potential abuses

  DOI

• Do Border Policies Deter Migrants?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The Invention of Immigration Exceptionalism

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Estimating relative importance of criteria by post-processing dominance-based rough set approach’s outputs

  European Journal of Operational Research · 2024-01-02 · 13 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Viscosity prediction using image processing and supervised learning

  Fuel · 2023-01-11 · 25 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Magnetically Actuated Millimeter-Scale Biped

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2023-02-22

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This paper introduces a new approach to studying bipedal locomotion. The approach is based on magnetically actuated miniature robots. Building prototypes of bipedal locomotion machines has been very costly and overly complicated. We demonstrate that a magnetically actuated 0.3~gm robot, we call Big Foot, can be used to test fundamental ideas without necessitating very complex and expensive bipedal machines. We explore analytically and experimentally two age old questions in bipedal locomotion: 1. Can such robots be driven with pure hip actuation. 2. Is it better to use continuous or impulsive actuation schemes. First, a numerical model has been developed in order to study the dynamics and stability of a magnetically actuated miniature robot. We particularly focus on stability and performance metrics. Then, these results are tested using Big Foot. Pure hip actuation has been successful in generating gait on uphill surfaces. In addition, complex tasks such as following prescribed gait trajectories and navigating through a maze has been successfully performed by the experimental prototype. The nature and timing of hip torques are also studied. Two actuation schemes are used: Heel Strike Actuation and Constant Pulse Wave Actuation. With each scheme, we also vary the time duration of the applied magnetic field. Heel Strike actuation is found to have superior stability, more uniform gait generation, and faster locomotion than the Constant Pulse Wave option. But, Constant Pulse Wave achieves locomotion on steeper slopes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• North Flinders Reef (Coral Sea, Australia) <i>Porites</i> sp. corals as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

  The Anthropocene Review · 2023-02-19 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  Corals are unique in the suite of proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) archives, as living organisms that produce aragonite exoskeletons preserved in the geological record that contain highly accurate and precise (&lt;±1 year) internal chronologies. The GSSP candidate site North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Australia) is an offshore oceanic reef, and therefore less vulnerable to local human influences than those closer to the coast. Here, we present geochemical records from two Porites sp. corals sampled at an annual to pluri-annual (i.e. 3–5 years) resolution that shows clear global and regional human impacts. Atmospheric nuclear bomb testing by-products ( 14 C, 239+240 Pu) show a clear increase in the Flinders Reef corals coincident with well-dated nuclear testing operations. By contrast, the radionuclides 241 Am and 137 Cs are present at low or undetectable levels, as are spheroidal carbonaceous fly-ash particles. Coral δ 13 C shows centennial variability likely influenced by growth effects in the 18th century and with a progression to lower values starting in 1880 CE and accelerating post-1970 CE. The latter may be related to the Suess effect resulting from 13 C-depleted fossil fuel burning. Coral δ 15 N decreased between 1710 and 1954 CE with a reversal post-1954 CE. Coral temperature proxies indicate prominent centennial variability with equally warm conditions in the 18th and end of 20th century. However, the exact mechanisms responsible for the mid-20th century changes in these parameters need to be scrutinised in further detail. Plain Language summary: This work proposes a candidate natural archive for the official marker of the Anthropocene that geologists will use to mark this important interval in time. Our candidate is a live coral from North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Australia), located 150 km east of the Great Barrier Reef, a location that is remote from direct local human influences. Corals are a unique archive of tropical ocean change because they incorporate the geochemical signature from seawater into their limestone skeleton during their long life-spans. Here we investigated a number of geochemical markers in yearly growth layers of the corals to define several markers for the Anthropocene based on changes in temperature, water chemistry, chemicals from pollution and fertilisers, radioactive products from nuclear bomb testing, and by-products from burning fossil fuels. We have detected clear human influences in several of these markers.

  PublisherDOI

• The Cost of Food Crime Phase 2 - Project Brief and Deliverables

  2023-10-10

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This research – Phase 2 – will draw on findings and outputs from Phase 1, Cox et al. (2020)(footnote 1). The aim for phase 2 will be to build on Phase 1 using its outputs and methods to produce monetised estimates pertaining to the cost of food crime The overarching aim of this research is to produce robust estimates of the cost of food crime on UK society that uses a bottom-up approach; identifying costs to individuals, businesses and government. The research in itself can be considered ground-breaking in that current estimates of the cost of food crime are based on high level estimates and proxy numbers. The exact outputs will depend on the methodology decided upon by the contractor of the work, however the deliverables expected are as follows: i) A bespoke, self-contained database containing all data that is used in the case studies. This should be easily updatable and accessible to all users. ii) Extrapolated estimates of the total economic cost of food crime, along with sensitivity tests. iii) Manuals for both the database and model. iv) A report including the results, as well as the assumptions made and where improvements may be possible as more data and data sourcing techniques become available in the future. v) PowerPoint presentation summarising the results of the project, as well as how they have been constructed. vi) As part of the conceptual framework developed in phase 1, the total cost was broken down into individual cost areas and methods of calculating these costs were suggested. vii) Both the database and model will need to be updateable, such that pending improvements in data collection or changes in economic conditions can be reflected in the framework accordingly.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Women’s World Cup: Fifa’s threat to ban European broadcasters is not a skilful move

  2023-05-11

  preprintSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Framing the past: The crisis blame game

  2022-05-11

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Cristina Méndez Rodríguez

  18 shared

• Thomas J. Miles

  AmeriCares

  18 shared

• Eric A. Posner

  14 shared

• Alan Collins

  10 shared

• Alan Leonard

  Portsmouth College

  10 shared

• Alessandra Casella

  Columbia University

  8 shared

• Gianpiero Torrisi

  University of Catania

  6 shared

• Ansgar Wohlschlegel

  Swansea University

  4 shared