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Staff > Radley Balko > Hit & Run Posts
Radley Balko 
Senior Editor
Radley Balko is a senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com.
Previously, Balko was a policy analyst for the Cato Institute specializing in civil liberties issues, where he published a paper on alcohol policy and a groundbreaking study on paramilitary police raids.
He is a columnist for FoxNews.com and has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Time, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Slate, Forbes, ESPN, the National Post, Worth and numerous other publications. Balko has also appeared on the BBC, CNN, CNBC, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and NPR.
Balko's work on paramilitary raids and the overuse of SWAT teams was featured by John Tierney in The New York Times, has been praised by outlets ranging from Human Events to the Daily Kos, and was cited by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent in the case Hudson v. Michigan.
Balko is also credited with bringing national attention to the case of Cory Maye, a black man who prior to Balko's work was on death row in Mississippi for shooting and killing a white police officer during a raid on Maye's home. Balko's Reason feature on Maye was also cited in an opinion by the Mississippi State Supreme Court. National Journal also profiled Balko's coverage of the case. Balko's November 2007 investigative report on Mississippi medical examiner Steven Hayne won second place in the investigative reporting category for the 2007 Los Angeles Press Club awards.
Balko publishes the personal blog, TheAgitator.com. He graduated from Indiana University in 1997 with a degree in journalism and political science.
Contributions | Hit & Run Posts
- Wal-Mart and the Employer Mandate: Ezra Klein Misses the Point, Radley Balko, July 2, 2009, 12:18pm
- Reason Morning Links: Police Chiefs Want No Part of Immigration Enforcement, California May Issue IOUs, Congress Tours the World on Taxpayer Dime , Radley Balko, July 2, 2009, 8:14am
- City Councilman Learns the Folly of Breed-Specific Dog Bans, Radley Balko, July 1, 2009, 2:46pm
- Reason Morning Links: Cities Back in Vogue, Sen. Al Franken, Vicodin Ban Looming, Radley Balko, July 1, 2009, 7:00am
- Lawsuits Challenge Identifying Ability of Police Dogs, Radley Balko, June 30, 2009, 9:10am
- Reason Morning Links: U.S. Pulls Out of Iraqi Urban Areas, Giuliani Mulls Run for Governor, Sotomayor and the Sixth Amendment, Radley Balko, June 30, 2009, 7:50am
- Collecting Rainwater No Longer Illegal in Colorado, Radley Balko, June 29, 2009, 11:47am
- Ryan Grim's Book on Drug War History Released Today, Radley Balko, June 29, 2009, 11:03am
- White House Website Big on Style, Short on Substance, Radley Balko, June 28, 2009, 11:23am
- I, Toaster Follow-Up: Artist Thomas Thwaites Responds, Radley Balko, June 26, 2009, 1:56pm
- Supreme Court: Defendants Have the Right to Cross-Examine Forensic Experts, Radley Balko, June 25, 2009, 4:42pm
- Live Chat With John Stossel Tonight, Radley Balko, June 25, 2009, 2:41pm
- Reason Morning Links: Walpingate, Climate Change Vote, More Protests in Iran, and Paying Teenagers Not to Get Pregnant, Radley Balko, June 25, 2009, 9:05am
- Reason Writers Around the Country: Radley Balko Jaws on the Nanny State, Radley Balko, June 24, 2009, 11:50am
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 24, 2009, 9:04am
- (Yet) Another Isolated Incident, Radley Balko, June 23, 2009, 9:49am
- Another Isolated Incident, Radley Balko, June 23, 2009, 9:30am
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 23, 2009, 8:57am
- Obama Keeping Promises That Grow Government; Abandoning Promises That Hold It Accountable, Radley Balko, June 22, 2009, 4:40pm
- Prince George's County Sheriff's Department Delcares Itself Blame-Free in Cheye Calvo Raid, Radley Balko, June 20, 2009, 7:14pm
- Supreme Court Says No Right to Post-Conviction DNA Testing, Radley Balko, June 18, 2009, 11:15am
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 18, 2009, 8:37am
- Massachusetts Suspends Pentagon Giveaways to Local Police Departments, Radley Balko, June 17, 2009, 3:35pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 17, 2009, 9:12am
- Obama Blocks Access to White House Logs, Radley Balko, June 16, 2009, 12:23pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 16, 2009, 8:39am
- Feds Hot on the Trail of a Dead Parolee, Radley Balko, June 15, 2009, 10:44pm
- Cops Killing Dogs, Ct'd, Radley Balko, June 15, 2009, 12:15pm
- Super-Powered Police Dog Proves a Paltry Pooch; People It Imprisoned Exculpated, Radley Balko, June 15, 2009, 11:45am
- Georgia Man Dead After Drug Raid, Radley Balko, June 12, 2009, 3:22pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 11, 2009, 8:50am
- Biden to Law Enforcement Groups: Sotomayor Has Your Back, Radley Balko, June 10, 2009, 2:57pm
- Feds Freeze Online Poker Accounts, Radley Balko, June 10, 2009, 12:56pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 10, 2009, 9:10am
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 9, 2009, 7:48am
- Step One: Accept the Surveillance State. Step Two: Profit!, Radley Balko, June 8, 2009, 12:57pm
- Congress' Vanity Lair Springs a Leak, Radley Balko, June 5, 2009, 9:34am
- If Only His Bootstraps Were Made of Red Tape, Radley Balko, June 4, 2009, 5:17pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 4, 2009, 8:44am
- Nicholas Kristof on Tiananmen, Radley Balko, June 4, 2009, 7:54am
- Mississippi Court of Appeals to Hear Oral Arguments Tomorrow in the Cory Maye Case, Radley Balko, June 3, 2009, 10:47am
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 3, 2009, 8:52am
- Radley Balko Around Town Tomorrow, Radley Balko, June 2, 2009, 3:30pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, June 2, 2009, 9:17am
- Sotomayor, Cops, and Hate Speech, Radley Balko, June 1, 2009, 3:21pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, May 29, 2009, 9:07am
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, May 28, 2009, 9:12am
- Medical Marijuana: Getting Some Play in Peoria, Radley Balko, May 27, 2009, 7:16pm
- Illinois Police Official Gets Cherry New Ride, Radley Balko, May 27, 2009, 2:49pm
- Reason Morning Links, Radley Balko, May 27, 2009, 8:40am