Racial Justice Advocate Justin Hansford, L’07, Named Georgetown Law’s 2026-27 Drinan Chair in Human Rights

WASHINGTON: Georgetown Law announced today that Justin Hansford, L’07, Executive Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University and one of the nation’s leading advocates for racial justice, has been named the 2026–2027 Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in Human Rights.

“We are delighted to welcome Justin Hansford back to Georgetown Law as the Drinan Chair in Human Rights,” said Dean M. Elizabeth Magill. “His scholarship, advocacy and experience will bring a valuable perspective to our students and to the broader Georgetown community.”

While a student at Georgetown Law, Hansford founded the Georgetown Journal of Law & Modern Critical Race Perspectives. As a Professor of Law at Howard University, Hansford specializes in critical race theory, human rights and law and social movements. He is a co-author of the forthcoming seventh edition of Race, Racism and American Law, the first casebook for teaching issues relating to race in American law classrooms.

Since 2022, Hansford has also been a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. His engagement with the U.N. began in the wake of the 2014 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. Hansford participated in developing a shadow report to the U.N. Committee Against Torture, including accompanying Brown family members and community protesters to testify before committee hearings in Geneva. He has used his role on the Forum to focus on long-term efforts to address racial justice, legacies of colonialism and enslavement, environmental justice and ending mass incarceration.

“Professor Hansford’s appointment as the Drinan Chair is both a homecoming and a celebration of a remarkable career dedicated to advancing racial justice and human rights,” said Human Rights Institute Executive Director and 2019-21 Drinan Chair Elisa Massimino. “Professor Hansford has distinguished himself as a scholar and advocate whose work bridges the classroom, the community and the international stage. Our students will benefit enormously from his intellectual leadership, his generosity as a mentor and his unwavering commitment to empowering others to effect meaningful change.”

“It is a tremendous honor for me to return to Georgetown Law as the Robert F. Drinan Chair in Human Rights,” said Professor Hansford. “Father Drinan’s legacy reminds us that lawyers have both the privilege and the responsibility to stand with people whose rights are threatened and to challenge systems of power that perpetuate injustice. I look forward to engaging with the vibrant human rights community at Georgetown Law and especially to working with our students to explore how human rights law and movement lawyering can serve as catalysts for meaningful change.”

As Drinan Chair, Professor Hansford will teach a course in the spring on human rights and racial justice in the United States. He will also engage with the Georgetown Law community by mentoring students and participating in the Human Rights Institute’s programs and events. He will deliver the annual Drinan Lecture on Human Rights on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 in Hart Auditorium.

The Drinan Chair was established in 2006 in honor of Professor Robert F. Drinan, S.J. Father Drinan was a professor at Georgetown Law for over 25 years, where he taught international human rights and constitutional law, among other topics. He was a priest, scholar, lawyer, politician, activist, ethicist and one of the nation’s leading advocates for international human rights. He dedicated his life to humanitarian causes and to improving the legal profession. The Human Rights Institute at Georgetown Law honors his legacy through its mission of being a premier training ground for future human rights lawyers and advocates.