ACLU Names Cecillia Wang as New National Legal Director

NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it has appointed Cecillia Wang as the organization’s next National Legal Director. Wang succeeds David Cole, who departs the organization after seven years to return to Georgetown Law. An ACLU lawyer since 2004, Wang currently serves as an ACLU deputy legal director and director of the ACLU Center for Democracy, which works to strengthen American democratic institutions and values, promote human rights, and ensure government accountability. She will become the first woman and the first woman of color to serve as the ACLU’s top lawyer.

“I am thrilled that Cecillia will be leading our legal team at this key moment. For years, Cecillia has led the ACLU’s work to defend immigrants’ rights, help ward off attacks on our right to vote, and stem government overreach and abuse,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director. “Cecillia is one of the ACLU’s star litigators and has been instrumental in our landmark litigation wins at the appellate level and before the U.S. Supreme Court; there’s no one better to serve as our next legal director at this time of great uncertainty for our country and our rights.”

Wang began her career at the ACLU as a legal fellow in the Immigrants’ Rights Project. Before returning to the ACLU as a staff attorney in 2004, she was a public defender at the Federal Defenders of New York; worked in private practice; and served as a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court, worked as a fifth clerk in the chambers of Justice Stephen G. Breyer, and also clerked for Judge William A. Norris of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit.

After returning to the ACLU, Wang progressively moved up from staff attorney to managing attorney to director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project, stepping into the role of deputy legal director in 2016. As deputy legal director, she was instrumental in key legal battles with the Trump administration, including challenges to former President Trump’s 2017 Muslim ban and his use of military funds to construct a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. In 2018, she argued the ACLU’s case challenging the government’s draconian interpretation of an immigration detention statute before the Supreme Court. Under her leadership, the ACLU successfully fought to end former President Trump’s family separation policy and argued and won the U.S. Supreme Court case blocking the Trump administration from placing a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

“In my two decades as an ACLU lawyer, I have worked with colleagues and allies to defend and advance freedom, equality, fairness, and the principle that the government is accountable to the people,” said Wang. “As the daughter of immigrants, I am keenly aware that we build on the sacrifices and investments of generations of people who precede us in this work. I have both the great responsibility to carry the work forward and the great joy of doing so in community with an extraordinary nationwide organization.”

Wang is a nationally recognized expert on the intersection of immigration and criminal law, has been honored by numerous community and legal organizations, and has taught immigration law courses as an adjunct lecturer at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. Her appointment is effective Oct. 15, 2024.