A longtime journalist and publishing executive, John joined CQ Press as CEO in 1998. In nearly 15 years leading the company, he established CQ Press as America's most authoritative publisher of print and online textbooks and reference works about politics and government. Upon leaving CQ Press, he was given the title of President and Publisher Emeritus.

John's work at CQ Press helped shape how students and researchers understand American government and politics for generations. Under his leadership, CQ Press expanded its digital offerings and cemented its reputation as the go-to source for authoritative political reference material.

Broadway Bound Fund (BBF) was founded in 2007 by John. BBF is a charitable organization that provides after-school acting lessons and theater exposure to public high school students in New York City.

BBF currently operates as an after-school and summer program affiliated with Armory College Prep in Manhattan, an organization which works to increase college opportunities for underserved youth.

John serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Armory Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit and home to the premier indoor track & field center in America. The Foundation is committed to serving youth by promoting excellence and fitness through a broad range of athletic, educational and community service programs.

Through the Broadway Bound Fund, John provides acting and theater experiences for high-school students at Armory College Prep, the largest after-school and summer program of its kind. John also arranged funding for the new Writing Institute at Armory College Prep.

John is the author of hundreds of articles that have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, the Washington Monthly, the American Lawyer, and many other periodicals. He is a four-time recipient of the American Bar Association's Gavel Award Certificate of Merit, one of the highest awards in legal journalism.

He is the author of three books on prominent figures in American politics and law, the most recent of which is The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist (PublicAffairs, 2012). The Partisan is the first full biography of the late chief justice. His new book, Summer of '71, is forthcoming from Penguin Random House in June 2026.

John is an alumnus of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland and serves as a member of its Board of Visitors.

John originated and arranged all funding for the first Journalism Interactive Conference, held on the campus of the University of Maryland in October 2011. The Conference was subsequently held at the University of Florida in 2013 and at the University of Maryland in 2014.

Merrill College's Career Center is named for Earl Newsom and Richard Lee, the two professors who gave John his start in journalism.

In 2012 John created Law Street Media, a web-based media company covering the world of law. Law Street was sold to vLEX, an AI legal platform, in 2020. John remains involved as a regular contributor to the site.

Law Street Media builds on the groundbreaking work of First Street, a revolutionary product that John conceived in 2010 and brought to market two years later as CEO of CQ Press. First Street allowed users to track connections between the people, money, and issues in Washington politics.

A John A. Jenkins production company encompassing a range of creative projects from documentary film to theatre to television.

John is cofounder of PoliScio Analytics LLC, a Washington-based publisher and online data journalism platform specializing in data-driven political and governmental research. PoliScio's unique datasets deliver unmatched insight into Washington's impact on American companies and the U.S. economy.

PoliScio engineers and analysts transform information into insight-ready datasets. These insights can easily be consumed and acted upon by lawyers and law firms, corporate counsel, corporate executives, investors, news media, trade associations, and educational institutions.

PoliScio researches and publishes weekly articles describing insights gained from its datasets, available on LawStreetMedia.com and the Insights page of PoliScio's website.

The American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence, also known as the PROSE Awards, honors outstanding books in the humanities and social sciences. John became PROSE chairman in 2009 and reinvigorated the awards. He served as chairman until 2019.

Publishers Weekly interviewed John about the surge in popularity of the PROSE awards.

Films from the PROSE Awards

Open Secrets is the nation's premier research and government transparency group tracking money in politics and its effect on elections and policy. John is on the board of directors.

As a longtime journalist specializing in law, politics, and government, John's involvement with Open Secrets reflects his deep commitment to transparency and accountability in American democracy.

John is a trustee of The Town Hall in New York City, a historic landmark venue whose mission is to provide accessible world-class entertainment to diverse audiences.

The Town Hall has a long and distinguished history as one of New York's most beloved venues. Founded in 1921, it has hosted some of the greatest performers and thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Marian Anderson and Dylan Thomas to contemporary artists across music, comedy, theater, and public discourse.