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Constitutional Accountability Center

non-profit organization in the USA

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ19865979
Source-derived summary

The Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) is a non-profit think tank located in Washington, D.C., that seeks to advance a progressive interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. The group has filed numerous lawsuits against President Donald Trump.

History

CAC was launched on June 3, 2008. Its predecessor organization was the Community Rights Counsel. Both organizations were founded and led by Douglas Kendall. Advisors to CAC have included Akhil Amar, Jack Balkin, and Walter E. Dellinger III.

Philosophy and methodology

CAC is a proponent of "New Textualism", a school of thought focused on the text, structure, and enactment history of the language of the Constitution. The organization makes legal arguments based in constitutional text and history, with particular emphasis on the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. CAC founder and president Douglas Kendall has stated his belief that a renewed focus on the Civil War Amendments can help to reveal the Constitution as a progressive document. A CAC publication about New Textualism states that "the Constitution provides concrete and progressive answers to many important questions."

CAC heads "Constitutional Progressives," a coalition anchored by the Center for American Progress and People for the American Way.

Litigation

U.S. Supreme Court cases in which CAC has filed amici curiae briefs include:

Citizens United v.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Constitutional Accountability Center” as non-profit organization in the USA. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2008—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2008. The account is most persuasive where Constitutional, Accountability and Center can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as non-profit organization in the USA. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19865979. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Constitutional Accountability Center”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Constitutional Accountability Center primary sources, Constitutional Accountability Center archive and Constitutional research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Constitutional Accountability Center”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Constitutional Accountability Center” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.