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Maggie Jo Buchanan is the senior director of the Women’s Initiative at American Progress. Formerly, she served as an associate director for the Women’s Initiative. Buchanan has also led policy initiatives at organizations such as Waxman Strategies, Young Invincibles, and NARAL Pro-Choice America. She has significant experience on the Hill, serving as a senior legislative assistant to Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and as a law clerk in the U.S. Senate.
Buchanan’s work has received extensive news coverage, and she has provided commentary to NPR, the U.S. News & World Report, Politico, PBS NewsHour, Vox, The Guardian, the Houston Chronicle, and more. She earned her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
As litigation continues over efforts to address climate change, it is critical that America’s federal courts include judges with professional expertise advancing climate protection policies.
Congress must ensure the federal judiciary reflects the needs and diversity of the people it serves.
The automatic clearing of eligible criminal records can help to foster civic engagement and build a healthier democracy.
Individual and collective accountability for the family separation policy is needed to hold individuals responsible, restore faith in government institutions, prevent further abuses, and provide appropriate redress.
The Biden administration can further advance its key priorities by restoring federal leadership on access to justice issues.
Americans’ civil liberties are in danger if Congress does not ensure that ordinary people can hold state and federal officials accountable for wrongdoing.
Author Maggie Jo Buchanan makes the case for disbarring Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyers, and lawmakers who were complicit in the former president's efforts to overturn the election, arguing that professional repercussions are necessary in order for the legal profession's codes of conduct to have any meaning.
Policymakers must ensure that state and federal officials can be held accountable in court when they violate the law and harm those they are supposed to protect.
The Biden administration can immediately act to begin renewing the federal government’s work to reform civil and criminal justice systems.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination is President Trump’s latest attack on the legitimacy of the courts.