What does an expert on democracy and federalism have to say about the current political climate in the United States? Wheatley non-resident fellow and formal federal judge Thomas Griffith sat down for a lecture with Heather Gerken, President of the Ford Foundation, to find out.
Gerken is a national voice on issues facing democracy, federalism, and elections, having spent much of her career protecting the rule of law. In addition to being the president of the Ford Foundation, an 18 billion-dollar global non-profit organization, Gerken has also litigated major voting rights cases and served as the first female dean of Yale Law School.
"My concern about American democracy today is that we need to find a way for the center to hold," she explained. "Everyone is trying to battle polarization and reduce it, and that is the long-term hope for democracy. But we are going to have to figure out how to survive this next period." She believes that the current political trend, where parties try to undo the previous administration's efforts once they win control, is not sustainable. The secret is to figure out how to work together despite deep disagreements— and it all starts on the local level. "The magic of American democracy is the crazy quilt that we have of different communities," Gerken said. "We need to take turns being the winner and the looser. We need to have an opportunity to be the dissenter and the outsider. We also need to have the opportunity to put our own ideas into place in real life. And that is what American federalism, American localism, allows. It allows all of us to attain those civic habits, to put in place our own vision of the good life. And it's that quilt that allows us to move forward... Federalism, democracy, the election system, it all depends on recognizing the decency of the other side and finding ways to live together."
"We are not enemies, but friends," Griffith agreed later, quoting Abraham Lincoln. "We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."
About the Speaker
Heather Gerken is the 11th president of the Ford Foundation. A nationally recognized expert on democracy, federalism, and elections, Gerken has devoted much of her career to strengthening U.S. election systems and protecting the rule of law. In addition to her expansive portfolio of research on the subject, she has litigated major voting rights cases and testified on Capitol Hill on critical election-related issues. She has served as a trustee of the Campaign Legal Center, a commissioner on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Political Reform, and most recently as a member of the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy, a bipartisan group of leaders in law, public administration, and politics dedicated to strengthening public trust in elections and supporting the rule of law. In 2013, her proposal for a “Democracy Index”—a national ranking of election systems—was adopted by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which went on to create the nation’s first Election Performance Index.
Before joining the Ford Foundation, Gerken served for eight years as dean of Yale Law School, the first woman to hold the position in the school’s 200-year history. As dean, she led her peers across legal education in expanding access to law school for veterans, low-income students, and first-generation college students, while launching innovative programs to strengthen academic freedom and free speech on campus.
Hailed as an “intellectual guru” by The New York Times, Gerken’s scholarship has appeared in The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, NPR, and The New York Times. In 2026, TIME magazine recognized Gerken in both its TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world and its TIME100 Philanthropy list of figures shaping the future of giving.
Gerken is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former trustee of both Princeton University and the Mellon Foundation.