Lisa Newman

Senior Counsel

Lisa Newman is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Lisa previously served as a trial attorney for the Federal Programs Branch at the United States Department of Justice. As a trial attorney, Lisa litigated high-profile constitutional and administrative law challenges to federal statutes, executive orders, and other government programs and agency actions across a wide range of federal laws, including reproductive healthcare, national security, controlled substances, religious freedom, telecommunications, and data security.

Lisa also served as a member of DOJ’s Reproductive Rights Team where she developed litigation strategy, before and after Dobbs, to protect and expand access to reproductive healthcare under federal law. This work included the United States’ lawsuit against Texas to enjoin the State’s unprecedented pre-Dobbs abortion ban, and a lawsuit to enjoin Idaho’s abortion ban to allow women to access health-and life-preserving abortion care. For this work, Lisa received the Special Commendation to the Post-Dobbs Reproductive Freedom Team for Outstanding Service to the Civil Division.

Prior to DOJ, Lisa clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.

Lisa holds a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.