Zachary Brown
Yale Law School 2026

I could not have hoped for a more exciting, interesting, or fulfilling summer than my time as a legal intern at the Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC). The entire office was incredibly welcoming from day one, as everyone made a concerted effort to ensure that my colleagues and I felt supported in our academic and professional journeys. During these past ten weeks, I had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of fascinating issues, including the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on non-competes, civil asset forfeiture reform, and Reconstruction-era constitutional history. I have learned so much and my skills as a legal researcher and writer are much improved. Brianne and the rest of the CAC litigation team were excellent mentors who provided detailed feedback and helpful advice at every stage of the summer.

While we are living in a time when defending the Constitution’s progressive promise can sometimes appear as elusive as ever, I admire how the lawyers at CAC remain committed to principled advocacy anchored in text and history. Their unflagging enthusiasm, diligence, and compassion are a model of the kind of lawyer I hope to become as I begin my career. I am so grateful to have played a small part contributing to CAC’s important work this summer.

Harith Khawaja
Stanford Law School 2025

My summer at CAC has been amazing! The work has been deeply rewarding: I’ve had the opportunity to engage with a range of substantive issues, from sovereign immunity to state constitutional law to personal jurisdiction. Along the way, I’ve become a better writer. I’ve also become a sharper legal thinker. I have especially enjoyed the opportunity to learn CAC’s historical and textual methods. Although these tools were unfamiliar at first—I had never before researched constitutional convention debates, for instance—I am glad to have developed greater comfort with them given their relevance today. I also found it deeply meaningful to employ these tools to fight for the public interest.

The people at CAC made my summer extremely rewarding! I appreciated the attorneys and staff’s thoughtfulness in welcoming me, in organizing lunches and brown bags, and in supervising me throughout my internship. I especially valued the effort CAC made to assign me projects I found most interesting. Prior to my start, Brianne asked me to share my areas of interest, and during the summer, was able to identify an opportunity for me to work on a personal jurisdiction case that perfectly fit my interests. And throughout the summer, attorneys were always available to discuss legal issues, offer valuable feedback on research and writing, or just grab coffee. I appreciated the warmth everyone showed, and I know I will keep in touch with them in the future.

Finally, my summer showed me how important CAC’s work is. CAC’s litigation team is outstanding, and their advocacy is pioneering in the progressive legal world. It is no wonder that so many parties solicit CAC’s amicus briefs in important public interest cases. Seeing the quality, breadth, and quantity (yes, quantity!) of CAC’s litigation firsthand was inspiring. The organization is fighting the good fight across our nation’s courts. My summer reassured me that I have chosen the right career path in public interest law and that I’d spent it at the right organization!

Indu Pandey
Yale Law School 2026

I have had a wonderful summer at CAC! Beginning the first hour of my internship, I’ve been involved with a variety of interesting and substantive matters from reproductive rights to state constitutional law. Working with CAC’s excellent lawyers has been a real treat, both to learn from them as experts in their field but also to get to know them as colleagues and mentors.

Learning CAC’s unique method of appellate advocacy has been challenging and rewarding. Challenging in that I had never forwarded legal arguments in this distinct way but also rewarding to see the results of careful strategic planning and the development of my own skills as a legal thinker. Every assignment pushed me to learn new areas of the law and engage in creative problem solving. Nothing ever felt rote or obvious, which I have supremely enjoyed.

The internship program is run with a lot of care and thought, which has made it an excellent experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in civil rights work and/or appellate litigation. CAC is making an incredible impact in their advocacy, taking on difficult cases across the country in partnership with other groups and also often winning! It’s a great place to spend a summer and I look forward to keeping in touch with the folks at CAC and my fellow interns as I continue in law school.

Alex Siegal
Harvard Law School 2026

My time at CAC has been an exceptional learning experience. Not only did I get to do exciting, real legal work, but I got to do so alongside a group of kind and talented CAC attorneys and staff who were all invested in my development. CAC tailored our assignments to our interests. Within the first week, I was able to support a direct litigation matter in federal district court. By the end of the first month, I had contributed research to a Supreme Court amicus brief involving statutory interpretation. The attorneys were genuinely interested in more than just our historical and legal research—they gave us the opportunity to craft and propose our own arguments for briefs, too.

Through the remainder of the summer, I also helped to evaluate statutory and constitutional issues percolating in lower courts and to prepare materials in the event of future appeals or grants of certiorari on those topics. I learned how appellate litigators monitor cases in the lower courts and assess whether to file amicus briefs. Finally, interns were also given the opportunity to contribute to CAC’s think tank by conducting original legal historical research. There was no make-work. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with so many different topics, including administrative law, the Voting Rights Act, and civil rights and civil liberties.

The people at CAC were what made the experience. CAC’s attorneys and staff are dedicated to its mission and to developing the next generation of advocates for a progressive and democratic Constitution. I was so fortunate to be able to spend the summer with so many kind and thoughtful mentors. Attorneys provided in-depth feedback on our written work, hosted brown-bag lunches on career development topics, and were accessible and enthusiastic. CAC also gave its interns the opportunity to participate in a local conference of nonprofit impact litigators and to meet law students from around the country. I’m very grateful to have spent my summer at CAC and look forward to staying in touch with the CAC family.