Charles Lane is a Post editorial writer, specializing in economic policy, financial issues and trade, and a contributor to the PostPartisan blog. In 2009 he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing. He is the author of two books: “The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of Reconstruction” (2008) and “Stay of Execution: Saving the Death Penalty from Itself” (2010). Lane joined The Post in 2000 as an editorial writer, did a stint as The Post’s Supreme Court reporter and then rejoined the editorial board in 2007. Previously, he was editor and a senior editor of The New Republic from 1993 to 1999 and a foreign correspondent for Newsweek from 1987 to 1993. Lane studied at the Yale Law School and Harvard College. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.