Bob Bauer

Bob Bauer is one of the most influential Democratic Party lawyers of our time.  Author of The Unraveling: Reflections on Politics Without Ethics and Democracy in Crisis, which former President Barack Obama has called a 'deeply thoughtful book' and a 'timely read.' In the book's foreword, presidential historian Jon Meacham writes that "as a lawyer and a professor of law, Bauer is a doer, a man committed to both thought and to action, to both reflection and to execution."  

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He is a Washington insider and veteran of decisive political legal battles, going back to his role as counsel to the Democratic Senate leader during the Clinton impeachment trial. He has since served as general counsel on both Obama presidential campaigns, as White House Counsel to President Obama from 2009 to 2011, and as Co-Chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration from 2013-2014. He was Senior Advisor for the 2020 Biden Presidential Campaign, and in 2021 served as Co-Chair of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, advising the Biden administration on the pros and cons of proposed reforms such as term limits, a code of ethics, and Court expansion. He has co-chaired a number of political reform initiatives, and has authored papers on related topics including campaign finance and democratizing debates.

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Bauer co-authored After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency (2020), 'essential reading for the coming debate on how to reconstruct the laws and norms that constitute and govern the world’s most powerful office.'

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He contributes opinion pieces on constitutional and political law in The Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He has appeared on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, The Rachel Maddow Show, CNN and CNN International, NPR, and more.

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At New York University School of Law, Bauer is a Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence, and Co-Director of the Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic.

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He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law.