Amir Ali is an American civil rights attorney and law professor who has argued multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and testified before Congress. He is regarded as an expert in constitutional law and criminal procedure, including issues related to sentencing and habeas corpus, the right to counsel, police misconduct, and government accountability. Ali is presently the Executive Director of the MacArthur Justice Center, a nonprofit law firm founded by philanthropist

J. Roderick MacArthur John Roderick MacArthur (December 21, 1920 – December 15, 1984) was a U.S. businessman and philanthropist in Chicago. The J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, a philanthropic organization supporting civil rights in the United States, was establishe ...

. Ali is also a professor at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, where he directs the law school's criminal justice appellate clinic. He serves on multiple Boards of Directors, including The Appellate Project and the Mosaic Theatre Company of D.C.

Early career

After attending

, Ali served as a law clerk for Judge Raymond C. Fisher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice

Marshall Rothstein Marshall Rothstein (born December 25, 1940) is a former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Early life Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Jewish parents who immigrated from Eastern Europe, he received a Bachelor of Commerce in 1962 and an ...

of the Supreme Court of Canada. Ali previously practiced at the law firm

Jenner & Block Jenner & Block is an American law firm with offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The firm is active in corporate litigation, business transactions, the public sector, and other legal fields. ...

, where he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court as a fifth-year associate.

Notable cases

* Ali argued for the petitioner in

Garza v. Idaho ''Garza v. Idaho'', 586 U.S. ___, 139 S. Ct. 738 (2019), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that the presumption of prejudice for Sixth Amendment purposes applies regardless of whether a defendant has waived the right to app ...

, in which the U.S Supreme Court established that a criminal defendant has the constitutional right to an appeal that has been forfeited by his attorney, even if the defendant's plea agreement states that it waives the right of appeal. * Ali argued for the petitioner in Welch v. United States, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that prisoners who were sentenced to unconstitutional mandatory minimums were retroactively entitled to resentencing or release. *Ali represented the petitioner in

Brumfield v. Cain ''Brumfield v. Cain'', 576 U.S. 305 (2015), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that because Brumfield satisfied 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2)’s requirements, he was entitled to have his ''Atkins v. Virginia'' claim considere ...

, in which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the death sentence of Louisiana death-row prisoner Kevan Brumfield and held that he was categorically ineligible for execution because he had an intellectually disability. *Ali represented Louisiana prisoner Corey Williams before the U.S. Supreme Court. Williams had been wrongfully convicted of capital murder at the age of 16, and spent over twenty years at

Angola Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

. *Ali filed a brief on behalf of the MacArthur Justice Center in Hawaii v. Trump, documenting President Trump's record of statements about Muslim people. Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited Ali's brief in her dissenting opinion.https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-965_h315.pdf

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Amir American lawyers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Waterloo alumni Harvard Law School alumni