Mary McCord

Threats to Our Democratic System

Drawing upon her long career as a federal prosecutor and in national security, and her current work using litigation and other legal advocacy to combat political violence, Mary will discuss how the widespread propagation of disinformation and the rise of extremist ideological movements have left American democracy at a vulnerable juncture. She will explain relevant constitutional principles and legal precedents that can be used to respond to intimidation, violence, and other efforts to reduce participation in democratic processes.

Mary McCord is Executive Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) and a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. At ICAP, McCord leads a team that brings constitutional impact litigation at all levels of the federal and state courts across a wide variety of areas including First Amendment rights, immigration, criminal justice reform, separation of powers, combating political violence, and protecting democratic processes.

McCord was the Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2016 to 2017 and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security from 2014 to 2016.

Previously, McCord was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for nearly 20 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Among other positions, she served as a Deputy Chief in the Appellate Division, overseeing and arguing hundreds of cases in the U.S. and District of Columbia Courts of Appeals, and Chief of the Criminal Division, where she oversaw all criminal prosecutions in federal district court.

McCord is a statutorily designated amicus curiae for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. McCord served as legal counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Task Force 1-6 Capitol Security Review appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. McCord also served on the Columbus Police After Action Review Team tasked with evaluating how the Columbus, Ohio, Police Department responded to the 2020 summer protests.

McCord is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a Nonresident Fellow at the George Washington University Program on Extremism. She is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on National Security and the Law, and is on the Editorial Board of Just Security.

McCord has written about domestic terrorism, unlawful militia activity, public safety, and the rule of law for publications including The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, Slate, Lawfare, and Just Security. She has appeared on NPR, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, and other media outlets. She is a MSNBC and NBC legal and national security contributor, and co-host of the MSNBC podcast, “Prosecuting Donald Trump.”

McCord received the Oliver White Hill Courageous Advocate Award from the Virginia Trial Lawyers’ Association in 2018, based on her work with ICAP litigating against white supremacist and private militias that attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. McCord graduated from Georgetown University Law School and served as a law clerk for Judge Thomas Hogan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.