Highlighting the center’s efforts to guide policymakers and raise public consciousness on the most pressing ethics and rule of law issues of our time
As we close out the calendar year, the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL) is pleased to release its 2024-25 Annual Report, highlighting the many accomplishments of the center during its thirteenth year of operation. This report celebrates those who advanced CERL’s mission and the dynamic collaborations and programs that expanded our impact.
Following many months of work around the deployment of the National Guard to U.S. cities, CERL filed two amicus briefs—one in the case Newsom v. Trump in support of Governor Gavin Newsom and the State of California and the second in Trump v. Illinois on behalf of more than 150 members of Congress in the Senate and House of Representatives. The center looks forward to filing more briefs in the months ahead as part of a new litigation and policy initiative aimed at meeting this moment with action.
“Our work has taken on an urgency and importance that we never imagined when CERL began in 2012. We see the fight to defend and preserve the rule of law as the most critical front in the effort to promote democratic values, both at home and abroad.”—Prof. Claire Finkelstein, CERL Faculty Director
CERL is proud to have hosted several workshops and public events on topics as wide-ranging as the risk of civil unrest surrounding the 2024 presidential election, the extraordinary challenges facing national security journalists, and threats to the rule of law in today’s political and technological climate. We also engaged over 40 law, graduate, and undergraduate students in our summer internship program and other training programs.
“Defending ethics and the rule of law is of more importance today than ever before, and I am proud to chair the board of an organization that is fiercely committed to this mission.” —Dr. Morton Halperin, Chair of the CERL Executive Board
We are deeply appreciative of the CERL community for your continued support and commitment to our mission. Together, we celebrate another year of advancing expert and public understanding, fostering interdisciplinary exchange, and supporting the next generation of national security leaders.
