Our Mission
The Lawyers and Democratic Decline (LADD) project brings together an international community of scholars investigating the role of lawyers in resisting — and at times enabling — authoritarianism in contexts of democratic backsliding.
Through collaborative research, comparative analysis, and public events, LADD explores how legal professionals navigate repression, uphold democratic norms, and negotiate their professional identity in times of political crisis.
Updates
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The Courts Cannot Save Us From Trump
The latest NY Times opinion by By Duncan Hosie, a legal scholar at the Stanford Constitutional Law Centerar, gues that courts alone cannot stop Trump’s attacks on constitutional norms because constitutional law depends…
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Iran’s Revolutionary Courts Deploy “Maximum Elimination” Strategy Against Dissidents on Eve of New Year
On March 24, 2026 — the eve of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year — human rights organizations documented a new phase in Iran’s systematic use of judicial institutions to suppress political dissent,…
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Turkey: European Court Hears New Case on Rights Defender Detained Without Interruption Since 2017
On March 23, 2026, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights heard a new case brought by the prominent Turkish rights defender Osman Kavala, who has been held continuously…
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China: Prominent Rights Lawyer Sentenced to 5 Years
On March 23, 2026, the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court sentenced human rights lawyer Xie Yang, 54, to five years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” with 100,000 yuan…
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Hungary Refuses to Enforce ICC Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu, Parliament Ratifies ICC Withdrawal
As of March 20, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government was poised to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged crimes against…
Upcoming Events
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