Leadership
Court Accountability’s leadership is steeped in the work of dark money investigations, judicial ethics and accountability, and pro-democracy movement organizing.
Alex Aronson
Court Accountability’s co-founder and Executive Director. As chief counsel and senior counsel to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Alex led investigations, oversight, and legislative efforts to address special interest influence and judicial abuse of power. A political organizer, civil rights lawyer, researcher, commentator, and judicial ethics expert, Alex’s work on dark money judicial influence and court accountability has helped elevate these issues to national prominence, informing today’s headlines and driving congressional action. Alex most recently served as Managing Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center. He was previously an attorney in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, a litigation associate at Covington & Burling LLP, and a law clerk to Judge Albert Diaz on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Before attending Stanford Law School, Alex helped lead a nationally prominent state-based nonprofit working to improve voter access in Oregon, culminating in the nation’s first statewide automatic voter registration law.
Lisa Graves
Executive Director of True North Research, Court Accountability’s sister investigative watchdog group, Lisa works with journalists and others to shine a light on those fueling regressive agendas targeting our freedoms. Lisa is one of the nation’s foremost experts in exposing how special interests distort public policy and try to thwart the public’s interest in a thriving democracy and healthy planet. Lisa is also the President of the Board of the Center for Media and Democracy and a Trustee of the Park Foundation. She served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Policy Development/Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, as Chief Counsel for Nominations for Senator Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, in addition to other posts. Lisa has testified several times as an expert before Congress, and her research and analysis have been cited by almost every major newspaper, news magazine, and news program in the country, and in acclaimed books, documentaries, and podcasts. She has a new podcast series with Courier, called "Grave Injustice."