The use and deployment of the law and the legal system has been a central feature of contemporary authoritarian populism in both the United States and elsewhere. We typically think of authoritarian regimes and of authoritarian transitions as being lawless, exemplified by events like a coup d'état. In our time, however, democratic backsliding finds expression through the working of ordinary legal rules and practices. Law is weaponized rather than jettisoned. The considerable writing that studies this phenomenon focuses on the relationship between authoritarian practices and legal rules and institutions. However, we are yet to appreciate the role of the legal profession. 

In partnership with the Institute's Senior Fellow Madhav Khosla, the Institute will explore, among other questions, how differing conceptions of the legal profession contribute to lawyers’ role in either resisting authoritarianism or accommodating it, and the role of bar associations and professional self-regulation in shaping the legal profession’s understanding of its relationship to democracy. This project seeks to generate new scholarship that will galvanize members of the legal profession in the United States and abroad to reflect on their roles in defending the rule of law and democratic values, and help them be more effective at doing so. The project will also include several public events with prominent jurists in fall 2026 and spring 2027, with exact dates to be announced.