Jamin Ben Raskin American University, USA

Jamie Raskin is a professor of Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, and Legislative Process and founding Director of the Program on Law and Government (with the late Tom Sargentich). Professor Raskin also worked with Professor Steve Wermiel to found the acclaimed Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, which began at WCL but has spread across the country to more than 20 different law schools; the Project has sent many thousands of law students nationwide into public high schools to teach high school students a semester-long course about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The bestselling author of Overruling Democracy: the Supreme Court versus the American People and We the Students: Supreme Court Cases for and About Students, Raskin is also a State Senator in Maryland, where he represents Silver Spring and Takoma Park and serves on the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and chairs the Special Committee on Ethics Reform. He has been described as the Senate’s “constitutional authority” (Washington Post), the “whiz kid of the General Assembly” (Silver Spring Voice) and “one of Maryland’s Top Ten Most Effective Senators” (Maryland Gazette of Politics and Business). He has successfully introduced and championed numerous nationally significant and landmark pieces of legislation, including the first National Popular Vote law in America, the first Benefit Corporation Law in America, marriage equality, the Maryland Farm-to-Schools Act, felon reenfranchisement, the lowering of the state voter registration age to 16, and giving 17-year olds the right to vote in primary elections. Working with WCL externs who join him for Maryland’s 90 –day legislative session, Raskin has seen more than 50 of his bills pass into law. Professor Raskin and his wife Sarah, a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board, have three teenage children.