“In this hinge moment in American history, we face enormous perils from authoritarian threats to chronic structural inequities to climate change and more. But it is also a moment of tremendous possibility. Scholarship can help envision a more just and democratic future—and help develop the policies and strategies to make real the aspirations of communities on the ground.”
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K. Sabeel Rahman is a professor of law at Cornell Law School. His academic research focuses on issues of democracy, governance, economic power, political economy paradigms, racial equity, and inequality. He works extensively with a range of think tanks, advocacy organizations, and foundations to develop novel approaches to address these issues in practice.
From 2021 to 2023, he served in the Biden-Harris administration, where he led the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). At OIRA, he oversaw policy review and approval of all significant federal regulations and played a lead role in the administration’s efforts on equity, data and information policy, and reforming regulatory analysis. From 2018 to 2021, he served as president of Demos, a national racial justice think tank and advocacy organization that played a key role in combating voter suppression and developing and mainstreaming major policy ideas from climate justice to student debt relief to energy democracy. He also cofounded the Law and Political Economy Project.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE FREEDOM SCHOLAR AWARDS HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY THE INATAI FOUNDATION.
What will it take to restore American democracy and rescue it from this moment of crisis? Civic Power argues that the current threat to US democracy is rooted not just in the outcome of the 2016 election, but also in deeper, systemic forms of inequality that concentrate economic and political power in the hands of the few at the expense of the many.
Accountability and economic power disparities in the modern economy, drawing from progressive political history to propose a more democratic approach to economic regulation.
Questions about the Freedom Scholar awards can be sent to freedomscholars@caseygrants.org.
