Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter-Poza, Esq.

Activist and advocate Rebecca Buckwalter Poza provides commentary on law, politics, and policy for web and print media, radio, and television. Currently serving as Alliance for Justice’s Senior Aron Justice Counsel, she is best known for her role as the first named plaintiff in Columbia University’s successful First Amendment lawsuit barring President Trump from blocking journalists and other constituents on Twitter.

Since 2005, Rebecca has worked on progressive campaigns and policy projects on five continents, including as Deputy National Press Secretary of the Democratic National Committee during the 2008 presidential election. She also worked for the Progressive Accountability Office, a project of the Center for American Progress and Media Matters for America, as Director of Special Projects, directing the polling and analytics program.

Additional experience in the journalism and non-profit spaces include her time as Daily Kos Judicial Affairs Editor, where Rebecca covered the Supreme Court, judicial nominations, and legal developments, with a focus on civil rights. She was also Yale Law Journal’s inaugural Justine Wise Polier Public Interest Fellow, in which capacity she directed access to justice project Making Justice Equal at the Center for American Progress.

Rebecca is also a co-founder of Prism, a publication that elevates stories, ideas, and solutions from the underrepresented leaders, thinkers, and activists whose voices are critical to a reflective democracy. Prior to Prism, Rebecca served as Senior Legislative Counsel at The Appeal and The Justice Collaborative.

Rebecca’s international experience includes national campaigns in Ukraine, Nigeria, and Argentina, working with The Office of James Carville and Greenberg, Quinlan, and Rosner. From 2010-2011, she was the Henry Luce Scholar at the Asian Legal Resource Center and Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. There, she produced work on human rights and rule of law issues throughout Southeast Asia cited by the New York Times and other major media outlets. In 2017, she took part in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’s U.S.-Taiwan Policy Program and in 2018 she participated in the Schusterman Foundation’s REALITY Impact journey to Israel.

In her capacity as an LGBTQ Latina activist and storyteller, she has moderated panels, spoken at university events and conferences, and performed in venues from The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the 9:30 Club in her adoptive city of Washington, D.C.

Rebecca received an A.B. in Government from Harvard College and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She clerked for the Honorable Margaret Ryan on the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the late Honorable Juan R. Torruella on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Rebecca co-authored James Carville’s 40 More Years as well as contributing to Paul Begala’s Third Term. Her writing on politics and law has been published by Democracy Journal, Washington Monthly, CNN, NPR, The Daily Beast, Pacific Standard, The Nation, The Atlantic, Politico, and others. Rebecca has been a regular guest on the Bill Press Show as well as appearing on networks including MSNBC.

Rebecca has been recognized by Glamour, Bitch, and the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation for her work in public service and by Tagg, The Washington Blade, and The Office of the Mayor of Washington, D.C., for her contributions to the LGBTQ community in particular.

Rebecca is barred in Virginia and before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and SCUBA.

Sub-specialties:

The Supreme Court and the federal judiciary: Rebecca brings heightened insights into judicial nominations, politics, and decision-making. Her experience--including two federal appellate clerkships, a U.S. Attorney's Office fellowship, and a stint in the White House Counsel's Office--is unique.

Military law: As an attorney who studied military law, clerked on the highest appeals court for the armed forces, and observed at Guantanamo, Rebecca's one of few public commentators familiar with current military law.

Indian law: Rebecca frequently writes on vast socio-economic inequities experienced by Native Americans as a result of policy, Indian-specific legislation such as the Indian Child Welfare Act, and Supreme Court precedent on Indian law.

LGBT rights: Rebecca is a leading voice on LGBT rights and ongoing litigation.

Racial and ethnic disparities, particularly with respect to civil rights law and within the justice system.

Racial bias in media and the criminal justice system.