Deborah Pearlstein

Deborah Pearlstein (@DebPearlstein) is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at Cardozo Law School, where she teaches constitutional law, international law, and national security law.  Her work on national security and the separation of powers has appeared widely in law journals and the popular press, including in the law reviews of the University of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgetown, and Texas, as well as in Slate, Foreign Policy, and the New York Times. A leading national voice on law and counterterrorism, Pearlstein has repeatedly testified before Congress on topics from military commissions to presidential power.  Before joining academia, Pearlstein served as the founding director of the Law and Security Program at Human Rights First, where she led the organization’s efforts in research, litigation and advocacy surrounding U.S. detention and interrogation operations. In 2021, she was appointed to a U.S. State Department Advisory Committee that works to help ensure the timely declassification and publication of government records surrounding major events in U.S. foreign policy. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Pearlstein clerked for Judge Michael Boudin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, then for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. She is also on LinkedIn.