K. Sabeel Rahman is a left-of-center attorney, academic, and former nonprofit executive who was senior counselor and later associate administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Biden Administration from 2021 to 2023.¹

Rahman was previously the executive director of Demos, a staunchly left-of-center advocacy group. While serving in the Biden Administration, Rahman was on leave as an associate professor of law at Brooklyn Law School. He has also worked for left-leaning groups such as the Roosevelt Institute and New America, and briefly worked as an analyst at OIRA during the Obama Administration. ^{2 3} In 2023, he became a professor at Cornell Law School.⁴

Background

Prior to attending law school, Rahman worked as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as an associate at the consulting firm McKinsey and Company. During law school he worked as a research assistant at the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and was a Lewis Reginald Fellow at Harvard Law School. He also served as a fellow for New America from 2015 to 2017 and at the Roosevelt Institute from 2011 to 2018. ⁵

In 2015, Rahman became an associate law professor at the Brooklyn School of Law. He has taught courses in Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, and Law and Inequality. ⁶

In 2023, Rahman became a professor at Cornell Law School.⁷

Rahman is an advisor to the Public Dollars for Public Good program at the Marguerite Casey Foundation.⁸

Writings and Projects

Sabeel Rahman has published several academic articles and a 2017 book, Democracy Against Domination, promoting left-of-center economic redistribution policies. ⁹ He also has published articles and delivered presentations for left-of-center groups including the American Constitution Society, the Center for Popular Democracy, the Open Society Foundations, and the Brennan Center for Justice. ¹⁰

Demos

From 2018 until 2021, Sabeel Rahman was the president of Demos, a New York City-based left-wing public policy advocacy group founded in 2000 that advocates for a staunchly liberal agenda. Demos has close ties to the wing of the Democratic Party associated with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and the left-wing progressive movement, advocating a far-left agenda. The organization signed a petition supporting the Green New Deal. ¹¹

While president of Demos, Rahman led the organization to work on left-of-center causes including election administration policy, technology policy, and pro-labor union policies. Rahman presented on behalf of Demos at the 2019 House Democrats Issues Conference in a presentation titled “Uniting Working Men and Women Behind a Democratic Agenda.” ¹²

Biden Administration

In January 2021, Sabeel Rahman joined the Biden Administration as a senior counselor at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Demos praised Rahman’s potential to “play a powerful role” in enacting left-of-center federal policy and regulation in his role at OIRA. ¹³ He subsequently became associate administrator of OIRA, before leaving the administration in 2023.¹⁴

1. “K. Sabeel Rahman.” Cornell Law School. Accessed April 30, 2024. Available at: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/k-sabeel-rahman/
2. “K. Sabeel Rahman.” Brooklyn School of Law. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://www.brooklaw.edu/Contact-Us/Rahman-K-Sabeel
3. “K. Sabeel Rahman.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/k-sabeel-rahman-99798b55
4. “Sabeel Rahman Joins Law School Faculty.” Cornell Law School. June 15, 2023. Available at: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/news/sabeel-rahman-joins-law-school-faculty/
5. “K. Sabeel Rahman.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/k-sabeel-rahman-99798b55
6. Rahman, K. Sabeel. “Curriculum Vitae.” Brooklyn School of Law. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://www.brooklaw.edu/-/media/Brooklaw/Staff-Directory/CVs/Rahman-K-Sabeel.pdf
7. “Sabeel Rahman Joins Law School Faculty.” Cornell Law School. June 15, 2024. Available at: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/news/sabeel-rahman-joins-law-school-faculty/
8. “K. Sabeel Rahman.” Marguerite Casey Foundation. Accessed April 30, 2024. Available at: https://www.caseygrants.org/pdpg-advisory-board/k-sabeel-rahman
9. Rahman, K. Sabeel. “Democracy Against Dominion.” Amazon Listing. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Against-Domination-Sabeel-Rahman/dp/0190911085
10. Rahman, K. Sabeel. “Curriculum Vitae.” Brooklyn School of Law. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://www.brooklaw.edu/-/media/Brooklaw/Staff-Directory/CVs/Rahman-K-Sabeel.pdf
11. Howley, Patrick. “The Warren Tribe.” Washington Free Beacon. May 16, 2012. Accessed March 11, 2022. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/the-warren-tribe/
12. ”2019 Issues Conference (Brochure).” House Democrats. Accessed March 11, 2022. Available: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2019/04/2019-Issues-Conference-Agenda-House-Democrats.pdf
13. Meyers, David. “Biden taps second voting rights leader to join administration.” The Fulcrum. January 27, 2021. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://thefulcrum.us/demos-k-sabeel-rahman
14. “K. Sabeel Rahman.” Cornell Law School. Accessed April 30, 2024. Available at: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/k-sabeel-rahman/