Spencer Overton

Spencer Overton
President, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Twitter: @SpencerOverton

Spencer Overton is the president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank founded in 1970 that works to solve problems that confront African-American communities. Today, the organization is focused on the future of work in African-American communities and congressional staff diversity.

Spencer is also a tenured Professor of Law at George Washington University (GWU), where he teaches, researches, and writes on race and the law and election law. His work has shaped the contours of the modern voter ID debate and resulted in Iowa restoring voting rights to 98,000 convicted Iowans who had completed their sentences.  

During the Obama Administration, Spencer served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Policy, the “think tank” of the Department of Justice.  He also chaired government reform policy for the 2008 Obama campaign, and served in the Obama transition team’s general counsel's office. He was also a member of the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform (TIGER) policy team.

Spencer graduated with honors from both Hampton University and Harvard Law School. He clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon J. Keith, and he practiced law at Debevoise & Plimpton.