Laura Coates: 12 Facts About The CNN Anchor

Television viewers who regularly tune into CNN will be familiar with Laura Coates. Not only is Coates the cable news network's chief legal analyst, weighing in on news stories to offer her unique perspective, she's also the host of her own show, "Laura Coates Live." Meanwhile, subscribers of SiriusXM may be familiar with her work on satellite radio, as host of "The Laura Coates Show," in which she covers a plethora of topics, ranging from politics to pop culture.

Speaking with Mediaite, the former attorney admitted that nobody was more surprised than she was that she'd made the transition from the courtroom to a television studio. "It was never on my personal bingo card that I would do this work, that I was planning to go into journalism," Coates explained. "Being able to be the person to tell another person's story and then champion them in that way, to give them a voice, to have them feel as though they were a full and active participant in their lives and the world around them ... that's very important to me personally."

Even though her show airs each weeknight on CNN, viewers who watch are only seeing one small part of a multifaceted and extremely talented woman's story. To find out more about Laura Coates, keep on reading to discover 12 facts about the CNN anchor.

When Laura Coates was in grade school, her family made a major move when they relocated from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. As Coates told People, the move to the Twin Cities was inspired by a random flip of the television dial. 

According to Coates, when her mother suggested the idea of moving somewhere else, her father threw out a twist of an idea. "He said, ... 'We'll turn on the television and wherever that show is based, let's just go there.' And my mom goes, 'Okay, let's try it,'" Coates recalled. When they switched on the set, they saw "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," the classic sitcom starring TV icon Mary Tyler Moore — which was set in Minneapolis. True to their word, within months her family picked up stakes and made the move to the Twin Cities. "It tells you a lot about my childhood," she observed. "We were very adventure-driven in terms of always being open to new experiences, no matter how crazy they sounded."

To this day, the influence of the beloved TV sitcom can be seen in a sign that Coates keeps in her office. That motto, which continues to inspire her during difficult times, reads "You're gonna make it after all" — a key lyric in the theme song of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

After graduating from Princeton and then earning her law degree from the University of Minnesota, Laura Coates began practicing law in Minneapolis. She then went on to accept a job at a Manhattan law firm. There, she grew to feel that she could be doing more with her law degree than just making barrels of money, and decided to shift from private practice to the public sector. 

That was when she joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor, finding success as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. In her latter role, she took on cases involving violent offenses including abuse and assault. 

During her years as a prosecutor, Coates had a front-row seat to the American justice system and how it impacts everyone involved. "The justice system takes its toll on every person who plays a role in the system, whether it's the offender or victim, the people defending or prosecuting," she said when interviewed by the Seattle Times. "Everyone with their fingerprints in the system will be marked by it, and at times it is indelible."

Throughout her years as a lawyer, both in private practice and working as a prosecutor, Laura Coates spent whatever free time she could dredge up doing theater. "It was often a secret side," she told People of her extracurricular work onstage. "People knew that I was doing theater, but most didn't believe me."

She appeared in productions of "Little Shop of Horrors," "Doubt," and a number of other productions. As a stage actor, Coates may have been an amateur, but she was not dilettante; she was one of the actors in an experimental all-female version of Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (titled "Reservoir B****es"), mounted by Minneapolis-based Red Eye Theater in 2007. Coates even took the show on the road, joining the rest of the cast when the production was staged in New York City as part of the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival.

For Coates, treading the boards wasn't just a hobby. Performing also offered her a respite from the fraught day-to-day reality she faced as a prosecutor. "It was a really great escape from sometimes the most difficult and stressful of cases or topics, to have a moment to see the world through someone else's eyes and figure out, 'What would I have done in those shoes?' And you get to walk in them," she explained.

When Laura Coates first began working as a federal prosecutor, she entered with a sense of idealism, believing she'd be able to play a role in reforming the system from within. However, as she told the Boston Globe, she soon came to realize that not only was that goal pretty much impossible, but she had also become an active player in perpetuating a broken justice system. Feeling discouraged and burned out, she was looking for an exit strategy toward a new career when she began making regular appearances on TV and radio as a legal analyst. Coates was a natural on camera, and became sought after for both her legal opinions and her innate telegenic qualities. In 2016, she made a big career leap when was hired by CNN as senior legal analyst. 

From that time on, Coates became a frequent presence on the cable news network, sharing her legal expertise on news stories ranging from the double impeachments of 45th president Donald Trump to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. As her star rose at the network, she was presented with opportunities, including filling in as guest anchor on various shows, in addition to hosting specials and televised town halls. 

In 2023, she was named CNN's chief legal analyst. That promotion proved to be a stepping stone that ultimately led her to be tapped to host her own show, "Laura Coates Live," which launched in October 2023. 

Laura Coates has garnered a lot of fans over the years. One of these was Alex Trebek, the longtime host of iconic TV quiz show "Jeopardy!" A few years before Trebek's tragic death in 2020, he was asked by TMZ who he'd like to see succeed him at the "Jeopardy!" podium. Trebek responded by revealing he'd given the show's producers two recommendations: L.A. Kings play-by-play announcer Alex Faust, and Coates. "I'm surprised he even knew who I was," Coates told The Washingtonian of being singled out by the game show legend. "I still don't know how I got onto his radar," she added, noting she was totally open to the opportunity of hosting "Jeopardy!"

During a 2022 appearance on "Tamron Hall," Coates reaffirmed that Trebek's seal of approval had taken her by surprise. "I actually was as shocked as anyone else was when he first said it," said Coates, pointing out that while she and Trebek had never met, she'd been a lifelong fan of "Jeopardy!" "I was thrilled when he said my name, and I thought, 'My god, this person that I have watched my whole life, really, even knows my name, thinks that I would be worthy enough to fill his shoes' — which frankly can't be filled," Coates continued. 

After Trebek's death, producers began bringing in temporary guest hosts in hopes of finding a permanent replacement. Given what Trebek had said, Coates put herself forward — only to be completely snubbed. "I certainly raised my hand and knocked on doors, and found them closed," she divulged. "I asked for the opportunity, I was told no." 

Laura Coates is a busy mother of two, and she says her husband, Dale Gordon, is a major reason why she has been able to so successfully balance her career with family life. "My husband, full stop, is an equal partner who really believes in me, to the point where you could say to him, 'Honey, I think I found a way to live on the moon.' There'd be an Amazon package later that day with astronaut food, because he'd be like, 'You know what? She must've figured it out,'" Coates explained in an interview with Essence.

Coates first laid eyes on her future husband in 2007, on her first day starting a new job at New York law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman. As Coates told People, she wasn't exactly at her best on that day, given that she'd just moved to NYC and her clothing still hadn't arrived. She not only had to scramble to find something to wear to her new job, but she was missing an eyebrow thanks to a trip to an aesthetician gone wrong.

As fate would have it, Coates was greeted by Gordon — who wasn't even supposed to be there, but had agreed to fill in for an absent colleague who was supposed to conduct her new-employee orientation. Suffice to say, that orientation went far better than expected. "I had first day jitters and in walks this incredibly handsome man," Coates recalled. "I never stopped smiling." 

In 2022, Laura Coates published her memoir, "Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor's Fight for Fairness." In recounting her experiences as a prosecutor, Coates painted a damning portrait of a deeply flawed justice system. According to Coates, she encountered a system rife with institutional racism, in which different treatment is afforded to Black and white defendants — while the overwhelming majority were people of color. "The justice system takes its toll on every person who plays a role in the system, whether it's the offender or victim, the people defending or prosecuting," Coates explained in an interview with CounterPunch. "Everyone with their fingerprints in the system will be marked by it, and at times it is indelible."

Coates' book — which became a New York Times bestseller — also explored her work to enforce voting rights. As she told NPR's "Fresh Air," efforts at voter intimidation or attempts to reign in the Voter Rights Act are far larger problems than people may realize. "But our democracy is in peril every time we claw back the gains of the Voting Rights Act because we dilute voting power, we dilute voting strength, we undermine the philosophy of one person, one vote, and we pretend that race has no impact," Coates said. "And that, in and of itself, is a lie."

One of the more harrowing moments in Laura Coates' legal career came when she realized that the defendant in a case she was prosecuting was not who authorities thought he was. As she detailed in "Just Pursuit," the defendant's attorney continually insisted that he actually wasn't the defendant, who'd been accused of assaulting a woman. Sure, he had the same name as the accused, was roughly the same age, and had been in the right area when he was picked up by the warrant squad. Yet he kept on insisting that he was not the person named in that warrant. The judge, Coates recalled, didn't take his protestations seriously. "Yes, I understand. You're not that person anymore," the judge responded dismissively, via an excerpt published in Rolling Stone. "No! I'm not that person, period!" the wrongfully accused man declared.

Feeling something wasn't right, Coates eventually sorted it out, preventing an innocent man being sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. The judge, however, was irked to be proven wrong, but had no recourse but to go with it. "I guess the exception proved the rule today. You must be proud of yourself, Ms. Coates," Coates recalled the judge telling her. 

According to Coates, she couldn't disguise her disgust. "'Proud, Your Honor?' I frowned. 'No one should be proud of what happened here today,'" Coates wrote.

In the spring of 2024, Laura Coates was on the scene at a Manhattan courthouse to cover Donald Trump's hush money trial. While she stood outside the courthouse, on camera, a horrific scene unfolded in the background as a man lit himself on fire and burst into flames. Coates immediately turned and began reporting on what was happening behind her. "We have a man who has set fire to himself, our cameras are turning right now, a man has now lit himself on fire outside of the courthouse," Coates told viewers, as reported by Australia's News.com. She went on to describe what was happening in great detail, sharing what she could see, hear, and smell. Though she would later say that she was deeply troubled by what was going on, Coates maintained a level of calm as she continued to report on the shocking story that was unfolding before her.

When clips of Coates' segment went viral, the lawyer-turned-reporter was praised for her journalism skills and her professionalism in the face of such a harrowing incident. "Laura Coates providing a master class in live reporting from outside the Trump trial in Manhattan," tweeted Spectrum News reporter Margaret Chadbourn. "Laura Coates' coverage is the difference between true and actual journalism and just being a media personality," tweeted podcaster Adeea Rogers.

Laura Coates clearly wears a lot of hats. In addition to being a former prosecutor, legal analyst, and cable news anchor, she also had a gig as an adjunct professor with the George Washington University School of Law. 

As Coates told the university's publication, GW Today, her role as adjunct professor involved lecturing on issues relating to social justice, in addition to teaching a writing course focusing on criminal litigation. She's also hosted lectures, such as one entitled "Race in America." "It's been so much fun," Coates said of her work with the university in that 2018 interview. 

According to GW Today, she'd decided to pause her teaching during the 2018 fall semester in order to report on some high-profile cases, but was hopeful that she'd be back in the world of academia before too long. "I knew I couldn't devote as much time as I could this semester, but I will return again soon," she said.

On top of everything else that Laura Coates has accomplished, she's also a philanthropist. That's evident in the charity that she established, Coats for a Cause. Slyly referencing her last name, Coates' charity coat drive asks citizens of Washington, D.C. — where she lives — to donate new coats that can be worn by children, from newborns to 21-year-olds.

"Paying it forward and giving back have always been so important to me and my family," Coates said in a statement, via a 2024 press release. "This year I wanted to do something especially meaningful and close to my heart. What better way to help spread warmth and wrap our arms around those in need than to partner with Comfort Cases for a Coat(es) drive."

The initiative was a partnership with Comfort Cases, a charitable organization that provides children who are thrust into the foster care system with a Comfort Case, containing personal items such as a blanket, toiletries, and a stuffed animal. "Receiving the generosity of a new coat, or a warm meal, often from strangers kept me going, and with the help of Good Humans like Laura and those in our community, we will do the same for youth in need in our area," shared Comfort Case founder Rob Scheer, who had spent his childhood in foster care.

Like many working mothers, Laura Coates must pull off the daily juggling act of balancing the demands of being a wife and mother with those of her CNN anchor job. For somebody constantly spinning so many plates, Coates is also a big believer in self-care; no matter how busy she gets, she's adamant about taking some time to recharge her batteries before they deplete. "I feel like I have a level of control over how I structure my day, but that's not coincidental," Coates told Essence. "I have had to fight very hard to be unapologetic about the time that I need to restore and be attentive, not only to my children and my husband and my family and friends, but also to myself."

In fact, Coates finds that taking that all-important "me time" is crucial, not just to her own personal rejuvenation, but in bringing authenticity to her voice as a news anchor. "If I'm not in the world, if I'm not living in the world, then I can't talk about it with authority," she explained in an interview with Mediaite.