Kristy Parker leads the checks and balances team, where she oversees Protect Democracy’s work to strengthen Congress’s Article I powers and prevent abuses of executive power. Previously, she led Protect Democracy’s litigation to stop President Trump from subverting Congress to build a border wall and to stop him from threatening to and using the machinery to quash dissent. She also worked on Protect Democracy’s efforts to prevent politicization of the Department of Justice, including a brief opposing the Trump administration’s attempt to dismiss the prosecution of Michael Flynn. Before joining Protect Democracy she spent 15 years as a federal prosecutor at DOJ, specializing in police excessive force and hate crimes cases as a Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.