The Edley Center’s mission is to defend and strengthen democratic institutions in the United States through actionable research and public leadership.

Democracy requires not only free elections but also robust institutions: the presidency, the bureaucracy, Congress, and the courts. Those institutions are falling short of ensuring a stable, democratic, and effective form of government. The Edley Center will harness the intellectual resources of UC Berkeley — in the law school and across the campus — to provide a trusted source of legal analysis and information, a setting for constructive dialogue among differing perspectives, and a springboard for institutional reform.

The center is named for Christopher Edley Jr. A beloved former dean of Berkeley Law, he is remembered for his scholarship about democracy and the administrative state, his prominent role in national policy circles, and his championing of the law school’s mission of public service.