On March 21, Fordham Law celebrated the launch of its newly established Voting Rights & Democracy Project with a virtual panel discussion titled “Protecting Our Constitutional Democracy: What Lawyers Can and Should Do.” The panel, the first of a series of events organized around the launch, brought together top experts in constitutional issues and explored lawyers’ roles in preserving and protecting our democracy.
The project, led by Jerry H. Goldfeder, a nationally recognized election law expert and adjunct professor at Fordham Law, aims to educate students in the law and practice of voting rights, ballot access, campaign finance, election administration, and democracy protection, as well as prepare students on how to litigate and reform laws and regulations related to voting rights and democracy.
Special guests and panelists for the launch event included Sheila S. Boston, president of the New York City Bar Association; Jason Harrow, partner at Gerstein Harrow and former chief counsel and executive director at Equal Citizens; Kira Romero-Craft, director of legal strategies at Demos; and Kathryn Sadasivan, a redistricting lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
In his opening remarks, Dean Matthew Diller described how the idea for the project was sparked during an early conversation with Goldfeder.
“A couple of years ago, before the pandemic, [Goldfeder and I] began to talk about how to deepen Fordham’s presence in this field and how to step up our activities and our focus on it— because it’s clear that voting rights is one of the most pressing issues in our country,” said Diller.
“As a law school, it goes to the heart of our mission—to educate and prepare lawyers and to work to uphold our democratic institutions,” he said.
The Next Generation of Voting Rights Lawyers and Scholars
Goldfeder, who is also special counsel at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, outlined why this project is so necessary in the current political climate.
“One need not be partisan to really recognize that our country is at an inflection point,” said Goldfeder, pointing to how state-level legislation has made voting more difficult during a time when volunteering as an election administrator has also become more dangerous.
“The goal of our Voting Rights and Democracy Project is to provide students with the legal tools to preserve our constitutional democracy,” he said. “Through panels like this, volunteer opportunities on cases, internships, a new online journal, and a podcast, we’re hoping to provide our students with the tools to be the next generation of voting rights lawyers.”
At the Crossroads
“The right to vote is the bedrock foundation of democracy, the most fundamental right, and the one that, quite frankly, makes all other rights possible,” said Boston at the event. “Efforts to restrict or undermine equal access to the ballot are a direct threat to the democratic process and the rule of law.”
Boston encouraged the audience of lawyers, law students, and advocates to get involved in the project’s mission and help safeguard voting rights.
“Voting rights should be the one issue where the legal profession can come together and speak with one voice,” she said. “There’s so much that we can do as lawyers. We can volunteer to be poll watchers or observers, litigate against laws enacted in bad faith to make it harder to vote, [and]defend election administrators.
“I would be remiss if I did not warn you right now that we are at a crossroads, but I know that is not too big a task for all of you,” she added. “I have faith in the future, faith in all of you, and I have faith in all of us working together for that which is good for our nation and world.”
