Civil rights and federal action
Analysis of ongoing fights over trans rights, immigration policy, and equality as federal actions test constitutional protections and democratic norms.
Book now
Media kit
Monica Hopkins
Executive Director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia. The principal spokesperson defending constitutional rights for more than 700,000 District residents.
The nation’s capital has had troops on its streets
for a year. She is the one they call.
National Guard troops have patrolled Washington since August 2025, and the Pentagon has confirmed they will stay through January 2029. ICE operations have expanded across the region. After the June 2026 primary, the President threatened to take over the District outright. On every one of those stories, Monica Hopkins is the voice the Washington Post, NPR and the New York Times go to first. She describes the federal presence as an occupation, and the ACLU-DC has filed in the District’s legal challenge to the deployment. This is not a historical civil liberties conversation. It is happening in her city this week.
A decade leading the ACLU-DC,
and six before that in Idaho
Monica Hopkins has served as executive director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia since 2014, overseeing advocacy that defends constitutional rights for more than 700,000 District residents.
As the organization principal spokesperson she has become a trusted voice in national conversations on civil liberties, quoted regularly in the Washington Post, the New York Times, NPR, and Politico.
Before DC she directed the ACLU of Idaho from 2008 to 2014, where she won statewide victories in criminal justice reform, LGBTQIA equality, immigrants rights, and First Amendment protections. Winning those fights in Idaho is a materially different job than winning them in Washington, and she has done both.
She holds a Master of Arts in Communication and a Certificate in Strategic Management from Georgetown University and a BA from Boise State, where she serves on the advisory board of the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs. A 2012 to 2013 Rockwood Institute LGBT Advocacy Fellow, she also serves on the board of the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens, and has received the Idaho Business Review Accomplished Under 40 and Women Making History awards.
Quoted in
The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic, Politico, and Al Jazeera.
Available for
Interviews, panels, podcasts, and media commentary, remote or in person.
Also a host
She hosts the ACLU-DC podcast, most recently The Power to Protest with Senior Counsel Art Spitzer, on the history and rights of protest in the District.
Four areas where she is
an authoritative voice
Her expertise spans constitutional law, advocacy strategy, and grassroots organizing, which makes her useful to journalists and hosts who need analysis rather than a talking point.
Free speech and federal worker retaliation
Political loyalty tests and First Amendment protections against government overreach.
Immigration and asylum
Challenging unlawful immigration policy, protecting the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers, and pathways to citizenship for service members.
Birthright citizenship and due process
Defending the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the constitutional right to due process.
What she has actually won
Idaho, 2008 to 2014
As executive director of the ACLU of Idaho she led statewide reform across four fronts.
- Criminal justice reform that reduced incarceration and improved fairness
- LGBTQIA equality protections expanding rights and recognition
- Immigrants rights advocacy ensuring dignity and due process
- First Amendment defense protecting free speech and religious liberty
District of Columbia, 2014 to present
Under her direction the ACLU-DC has expanded its capacity and become a resource for all District residents.
- Scaled advocacy across local and national civil rights challenges
- Built coalitions across diverse communities and organizations
- Increased public awareness through strategic media engagement
- Strengthened legal defense capabilities for constitutional rights
- Ratified the organization’s first collective bargaining agreement with its staff union, May 2026
Monica on air
Video interviews covering the defense of civil rights, strategic advocacy and public policy, First Amendment protections, immigration policy, and legal battles over equality and due process.
“Civil liberties are not abstract concepts. They are the lived experiences of real people in our communities.”
Monica Hopkins
Everything you need to book Monica
Contact
Interview days
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
Time window
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM ET
Location
United States, Eastern Time
Formats
Interviews, panels, podcasts and media commentary, remote or in person
Microphone
Shure MV7 with premium earbuds
Press assets
Additional photography and b-roll available on request
Find Monica
monicahopkins.com, LinkedIn, X
Topic tags
Civil rights, civil liberties, constitutional law, First Amendment, immigration, due process, advocacy strategy, grassroots organizing, nonprofit leadership.
Book Monica
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM ET. All podcast booking handled through Heartcast Media.