The first 100 days of the Trump Administration have brought a deluge of executive actions and executive orders that have upended the government, higher education, and our democracy. This has resulted in a flurry of litigation, including cases filed here in Rhode Island.

Join Common Cause Rhode Island and the ACLU of Rhode Island for a virtual Demystifying Democracy event where we will hear from local experts to better understand what has happened, what the reaction has been in the Ocean State, and where we go from here.

About the panel:

Diana Hassel is a Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law. She teaches constitutional law, civil rights, critical race theory, and race and the law. She writes in the areas of civil rights litigation, due process, and integrating issues of racial justice into the law school curriculum. Professor Hassel earned her BA from Mount Holyoke College and her JD from Rutgers Law School – Newark.

Lynette Labinger is a civil rights litigator in Rhode Island and a long-time cooperating attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of RI, which has twice honored her with its Civil Libertarian of the Year Award. Labinger has received numerous honors for her civil rights advocacy, including recognition in 2019 by the Roger Williams University Law Review as “Gender Equity Champion” and the Law School’s honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2021.

Charles Hunt is an associate professor of political science in Boise State University’s School of Public Service. He is the author of the book Home Field Advantage, which assesses the local roots that members of Congress do (or do not) have in the communities they represent and the representational and electoral consequences of these roots. He also co-authors the textbook Congress Explained. Professor Hunt received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Brown University and his doctorate in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2019.

Miriam Weizenbaum is a trial lawyer with DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry & Revens, Ltd. and a founder of the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island. She is also a co-founder of a non-profit public interest law center, the Rhode Island Center for Justice. Weizenbaum attended Simon’s Rock of Bard College where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. After working as a community and union organizer, she earned a Juris Doctorate at Temple University in 1986.