Job Alert: Democracy Project at NYU's Brennan Center

[Judging from the following announcement, liberal lawyers are "historianing up."  The job is said to be "great for someone with a B.A. or M.A. in history and an interest in law," who would "be embedded in a full-time legal practice."  DRE. H/t: LK]

The Brennan Center [for Justice at NYU School of Law] seeks a full-time Program Associate to join our Democracy Program, which seeks to expand access to the franchise, counter political entrenchment, respond to regressive judicial rulings, and reform our courts and other democratic institutions, through litigation, legal strategy development, policy campaigns, and strategic communications.

The Program Associate will join an inter-disciplinary team working with historians, legal scholars, and lawyers to address misuses of history in the courts and develop new ways to invoke history to protect our democracy. This position should be especially interesting for students of history or political science who are seeking experience with the law.

The team’s work responds to the extreme rightward turn that the federal courts have taken in recent years. The courts—led by the United States Supreme Court—have justified overruling significant precedents and issuing anti-democracy decisions by invoking widely criticized “originalist” theories of constitutional interpretation that limit the scope of our rights to eighteenth-century values. These originalist opinions often also get the history wrong. Their effects have been devastating for abortion rights, gun control, and other critical issues.

The Program Associate will provide research and writing support to the team, along with broad logistical support for the team’s day-to-day operations. This is an entry-level position reporting to a designated program manager, although the Program Associate may be assigned to work with a variety of team members as needed. Over the course of their tenure, the Program Associate may also be assigned to work on other emergent issues affecting our democracy.