Deborah N. Pearlstein
Deputy Director
U.S. Law and Security Program
Joined the Lawyers Committee in 2003

Deborah Pearlstein is senior advisor to the U.S. Law and Security Program at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. As senior advisor, Deborah consults with Lawyers Committee staff on litigation, research, and advocacy efforts relating to U.S. counterterrorism and national security policies. An expert in U.S. constitutional law, she focuses on the adjudication of national security cases; the treatment of immigrants and minorities; and the protection of personal privacy in intelligence gathering and law enforcement.

Before joining the Lawyers Committee, Deborah served in the White House as a writer for President Clinton, becoming a Senior Editor and Speechwriter in 1995, before embarking on a career in law. In 1998, Deborah received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an articles editor of the Harvard Law Review. She also served as a teaching fellow in Harvard College and in Harvard Law School's Master of Laws program. Following law school, Deborah 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.

After her clerkships, Deborah joined the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson, where she devoted a substantial portion of her time to pro bono litigation in immigration, privacy, and election law matters on behalf of individuals and non-profit organizations. She has briefed and argued cases in trial and appellate courts, and has written and consulted on briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2002, Deborah shared the ACLU’s Voting Rights Award for her work on election systems reform in California following the 2000 presidential election.

Deborah is a frequent public speaker on security-related topics in U.S. constitutional law, and has published numerous popular and academic articles on the work of the U.S. Supreme Court.