Amir Ali spoke to the NPF Paul Miller Washington Reporting fellows November 14, 2022. 

Amir H. Ali is the Executive Director of the MacArthur Justice Center, where he steers the organization’s overall mission and cutting-edge litigation to create a more just and humane legal system. Ali is recognized as a national leader in litigating issues of police and prosecutorial accountability, having successfully litigated civil rights and criminal defense cases at all levels, including landmark victories in the U.S. Supreme Court. His work spans the justice system, from the accountability of law enforcement and prosecutors, to the rights of criminal defendants, to criminal sentencing and the death penalty, to the rights of incarcerated people, to wrongful convictions. He presently represents the family of Ahmaud Arbery in a civil suit against the people responsible for his murder. Ali has also been at the forefront of challenging policies that oppress and punish minority groups. For instance, his brief opposing President Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’ was cited by Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her historic dissent.