Chiraag Bains

About Chiraag Bains

Chiraag Bains is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a legal strategy and policy consultant. He previously served in leadership at the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice as well as in the nonprofit sector. His work focuses on civil rights, democracy, artificial intelligence, and government programs that advance fairness and opportunity for all. 

Chiraag was born in Ottawa, Canada, to parents from India. He moved to the United States in 1992 with his mother, sisters, and grandparents, and took the citizenship test as soon as he could after turning 18. He became a naturalized citizen in 2000.

From 2021 to 2023, Chiraag was Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and Deputy Assistant to the President for Racial Justice & Equity. He led implementation of President Biden’s day-one Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities. That work resulted in 90 agency action plans, an equitable data strategy, and more effective distribution of infrastructure and pandemic relief funds. Chiraag drove the policy process for several of President Biden’s other priorities: a landmark executive order on police reform and public safety; the pardon of marijuana possession offenses and the rescheduling of the drug; new investments in community violence intervention; a national strategy to combat bias in home appraisals; a government-wide initiative to increase contracting with small disadvantaged businesses; and the United We Stand summit against hate-fueled violence. He also oversaw efforts to expand voter registration opportunities, LGBTQI+ rights, disability rights, and funding for Native communities. In addition, he co-led a strategy on artificial intelligence and equity, which produced over 20 agency actions to protect workers and consumers from algorithmic bias alongside the release of the administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. 

Chiraag previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Criminal Justice and Guns Policy. He was co-chair of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force on Criminal Justice Reform in 2020. He led a team of voting rights lawyers at the nonprofit organization Demos from 2018 to 2021 and was a senior fellow at Harvard Law School and the Open Society Foundations. 

From 2010 to 2017, Chiraag served in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. As Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, he supervised matters from the Special Litigation, Voting, Housing, and Appellate Sections, and helped lead DOJ’s work on criminal justice reform. He co-wrote the Ferguson Report and sued Ferguson, Missouri, over unconstitutional policing and court practices; served on the senior DOJ team that worked to end abusive solitary confinement practices; and led the Division’s strategy on bail and court fines and fees reform. Chiraag was previously a federal prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section, where he prosecuted officer misconduct, hate crimes, arson against reproductive health clinics, and human trafficking around the country. He also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the sex offense and domestic violence unit in Washington, D.C.

Chiraag clerked for Judge Karen Nelson Moore on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Nancy Gertner on the federal district court in Boston. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an Articles Editor on the Harvard Law Review; his M.Phil. in Criminology from the University of Cambridge on a Gates Cambridge Scholarship; and his B.A. magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale College, where he was a Harry S. Truman Scholar. Chiraag also completed the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs in New York City.

His writing has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and Slate, and he has appeared on CBS News, PBS NewsHour, NPR, RadioLab, and other programs.