Chiraag Bains is a senior fellow at Democracy Fund and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council for President Biden. Among other initiatives, he led the development of President Biden’s executive order on police reform, marijuana rescheduling and pardons, a comprehensive gun violence reduction strategy, and new programs to support community violence intervention. In addition, Bains oversaw the White House’s agenda on democracy and voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, disability rights, closing the racial wealth gap, and investing in Native American communities. He also co-led an interagency strategy on artificial intelligence and equity, helping to develop the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.
Previously, Bains served as Director of Legal Strategies at Demos, a senior fellow at Harvard Law School, and senior counsel in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under President Obama. He earned the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service for his investigation and litigation over unconstitutional policing, fines, and fees in Ferguson, Missouri. He began his career as a federal prosecutor, focusing on excessive force under color of law and hate crimes, and also prosecuted sex offenses and domestic violence at the DC U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Bains holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.Phil. in criminology from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. from Yale University.
