MISSION & HISTORY

We are accomplished litigators, constitutional experts, policy researchers, and communications strategists with extensive experience fighting corruption, protecting voting rights, and holding power accountable.

Democracy Defenders Fund was founded in 2023 by Ambassador Norm Eisen (ret.) after years of experience defending democracy from inside the White House, the courtroom, and the national media. He and Executive Director Susan Corke — a diplomat and nonprofit leader with over two decades of experience countering authoritarianism — have brought together an all-star leadership team with decades of high-stakes experience to fight autocracy, protect the Constitution, and safeguard American democracy.

Since January 2025, Democracy Defenders Fund has been a leader in a broad legal resistance that is the most effective restraint on the Trump administration’s abuses of power.  We work strategically in the court of law and court of public opinion.

• Defending the Rule of Law: We take on institutions and powerful people when their actions threaten our democracy and erode constitutional rights and protections.
• Fighting Corruption: We challenge individual actors, including elected officials and public figures, whose actions corrupt our institutions or consolidate political power in the hands of an elite few.
• Safeguarding Elections: We use litigation, policy advocacy, strategic communications, and grassroots mobilization to ensure our elections are free, fair, and secure. We fight to make sure every vote counts.