Julie Fernandes is the associate director for institutional accountability and individual liberty at the left-of-center Rockefeller Family Fund [1] [2] and a senior visiting fellow at the left-of-center German Marshall Fund of the United States. [3]
Previously, Fernandes worked as the director for voting rights and democracy at the left-of-center Open Society Foundations (OSF), the principal grantmaking institution for left-of-center billionaire George Soros. [4] She was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Obama administration [5] and held various roles during the Clinton administration including Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and counsel to the Assistant Attorney General. [6]
Fernandes self-identifies as a “proud liberal Democrat” [7] and has said the Democratic Party does not need to “fight to be the white party” [8] and claims that laws barring felons from voting are “designed to keep black people from voting.” [9]
Career
Julie Fernandes has been the associate director for institutional accountability and individual liberty of the Rockefeller Family Fund since June 2018. [10] [11] She is also a visiting senior fellow at the left-of-center German Marshall Fund of the United States. [12] Previously she was a senior policy analyst 2012 to 2016 and from 2016 to 2018 director for voting rights and democracy for the left-of-center Open Society Foundations (OSF), [13] which was founded by the liberal billionaire George Soros. She has also worked as senior counsel and senior policy analyst for the left-of-center Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights [14] and received a fellowship from the left-of-center ACLU. [15]
From 2009 until 2011, Fernandes was Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Obama administration. [16] From 1997 until 2001 she worked in various roles in the Clinton administration [17] including as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General from 1999 until 2001 and Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy at the White House from 1997 until 1999. [18]
Fernandes is a member of the board of directors for left-of-center organizations including the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Lead for America, Bend the Arc, the American Constitution Society, Ad Council, [19] and the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP). [20]
On her LinkedIn page, Fernandes shared a post that says “systemic racism has existed in our country for centuries.” [21] On Twitter, Fernandes has said “the Confederacy has been a theme of the Trump presidency,” [22] supported calls for the resignation of Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), [23] and said the Democratic Party does not need to “fight to be the white party.” [24] She has also said the criminal justice itself “is biased against African Americans and Latinos” and claimed that felony disenfranchisement laws are “designed to keep black people from voting.” [25]
Political Positions and Contributions
Julie Fernandes self-identifies as a “proud liberal Democrat.” [26]
Julie Fernandes has made Federal Election Commission-reportable contributions to several Democratic Party-affiliated campaigns and committees including the 2020 presidential campaign of Joe Biden, the Senate campaigns of Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), the left-of-center pass-through ActBlue, the Maryland Democratic Party, Fight Back PAC, Obama for America, and the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in 2020, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in 2016, and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in 2004. [27]