The 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy is a legal education and advocacy organization based at the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. ¹ The Center was founded to educate lawyers in the using the 14^th Amendment litigation and advocacy to combat “white supremacy” and “insurrection,” according to civil-rights attorney and former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Sherrilyn Ifill, the inaugural head of the Center. ²

Mission

The primary mission of the 14^th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy is to train lawyers in the use of the 14^th Amendment for purposes of litigation and advocacy. ²

The 14^th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy is based at Howard University School of Law and collaborates with various organizations including “the Charles Hamilton Houston Center at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute,” according to Howard University. ³

Sherrilyn Ifill, the inaugural head of the Center, has stated that she believes the 14th Amendment was “hijacked.” According to Ifill, “At this time in our country, I think we need to re-engage it, particularly because the 14th amendment was created by a group of legislators and those who influenced them who had stared into the face of insurrection and into the face of violent white supremacy. Both of those very dangerous elements are elements that we are confronting today.” ²

Ifill was a staunch advocate of using the 14^th Amendment to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot in the 2024 elections, characterizing rulings to allow President Trump to stay on the ballot as a refusal of the courts to come to terms with the “radical” nature of the amendment. ⁴

Ifill has referred to the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution as the “touchstone” of America’s “second founding.” ⁴

People

Sherrilyn Ifill, holder of the Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights for Howard University School of Law, was appointed the inaugural head of the 14^th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy. ³ Previously, Ifill was president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 2013 to 2022. Prior to working for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Ifill worked as a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, and as a legal fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union. ⁵

Ifill has held positions on the boards of the Learning Policy Institute, the Profiles in Courage Advisory Board, and the New York University School of Law. Ifill was also appointed to President Joe Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court 2021. ⁵ Previously, Ifill was on the board for the U.S. programs of George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) and the board of the Open Society Institute Baltimore. In 2011, Ifill was appointed board chair for OSF’s U.S. programs. ⁶

Ifill has made strong statements regarding race and democracy in America. In a talk given at Harvard University, Ifill remarked: “We are here because far too many have convinced themselves that the disease that is embedded in the DNA of America, racism and white supremacy, can coexist with healthy democracy. It cannot.” ⁷

In 2024, Ifill characterized Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and political commentator designated as Secretary of Defense nominee in the second Trump administration, as being “known to be a white supremacist,” a remark that drew criticism from left-leaning and right-leaning individuals. ^{8 9 10}

In 2024, Ifill claimed in an interview with The Guardian that President Donald Trump winning the election would cause America to “cease to be a democracy.” ²

1. “Civil Rights Lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill.” Civil Rights Lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill | Howard University School of Law. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://law.howard.edu/civil-rights-lawyer-sherrilyn-ifill.
2. Leingang, Rachel. “Sherrilyn Ifill on a Trump Win: ‘We Will Cease to Be a Democracy.’” The Guardian, January 7, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/07/sherrilyn-ifill-interview-howard-university-14th-amendment-trump-democracy.
3. “Civil Rights Lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill Appointed Inaugural Vernon Jordan Endowed Chair in Civil Rights.” The Dig at Howard University. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/civil-rights-lawyer-sherrilyn-ifill-appointed-inaugural-vernon-jordan-endowed-chair-civil-rights.
4. Ifill, Sherrilyn. Opinion | U.S. courts fear the radical 14th amendment – the washington post. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/24/us-courts-fear-14th-amendment-radical/.
5. “Sherrilyn Ifill.” Legal Defense Fund, July 13, 2022. https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/staff/sherrilyn-ifill/.
6.  “Sherrilyn Ifill Appointed Board Chair of U.S. Programs at The Open Society Foundations.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/sherrilyn-ifill-appointed-board-chair-us-programs-open-society-foundations
7.  Pazzanese, Christina. “Time For ‘Emergence of a New and Better Democracy.’” Harvard Gazette, November 4, 2024. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/10/time-for-emergence-of-a-new-and-better-democracy/.
8. Miller, Andrew Mark. “‘This S— Has to Stop’: Former Jill Biden Spox Rips Dems for ‘vilifying’ Dei Critics as ‘White Supremacists.’” Fox News, November 15, 2024. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-jill-biden-spox-rips-dems-for-vilifying-dei-critics-white-supremacists.
9. LaRosa, Michael. “X.Com.” X (formerly Twitter). Accessed November 18, 2024. https://x.com/michaellarosadc/status/1857406585619820701?s=46&t=VV65-Nuu3YgUnZ6JtT8ZgA.
10. Venegas, Natalie. “Pete Hegseth’s Fox News Colleagues React to ‘White Supremacist’ Accusation.” Newsweek, November 17, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/pete-hegseths-fox-news-colleagues-react-white-supremacist-accusation-1986874