Kathryn Kolbert

Kathryn Kolbert has been widely credited by commentators as having saved Roe v. Wade with her 1992 argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Before being named President of People For the American Way Foundation, Kolbert was a Senior Research Administrator with the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the Executive Producer of Justice Talking, an award-winning weekly public radio show about law and American life. Kolbert is the co-author of four Justice Talking and Justice Learning books, including the new Hip Pocket Guide to the United States Constitution and Our Constitution, (coauthored with Don Ritchie) published by Oxford University Press.

Kolbert is one of the nation's leading experts in legal, legislative and policy issues concerning women's reproductive health. Prior to joining the Annenberg Public Policy Center, Kolbert had a long and distinguished career as a public interest attorney specializing in women's reproductive rights. She participated on the legal team of nearly every abortion case in the Supreme Court from 1986-1997.

From 1992 until 1997, Kolbert served as Vice President and co-founder of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy in New York, where she directed its domestic litigation and public policy programs. Kolbert also served as the State Coordinating Counsel of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project in New York and as a Staff Attorney with the Women's Law Project and Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. In 2000, she completed a two-year Individual Project Fellowship with the Open Society Institute.

A graduate of Temple University School of Law and Cornell University School of Arts and Sciences, Kolbert has been an adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania for over 25 years and has lectured at colleges and universities across the nation. She has also been a frequent commentator on women's rights and health in the national media.