Elijah DeVaughn

Elijah DeVaughn is a scholar and public servant. An aspiring civil rights lawyer and law professor, DeVaughn is currently attending Yale Law School, where he is focusing on constitutional and criminal law. In 2021, DeVaughn graduated cum laude with highest honors from Harvard College, where he studied history and literature. At Harvard, DeVaughn won the Hoopes Prize, the university’s award for outstanding scholarly work in the completion of a senior thesis, for his historical project on the life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. In 2023, DeVaughn earned an MPhil in History at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. After his studies, he served as presidential speechwriter to the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden. Hired at the age of 23, he was one of the youngest presidential speechwriters in American history. A God-fearing man, DeVaughn hails from Compton, California—a place his family has called home for generations. He is committed to producing scholarship that reimagines justice and engaging in political action to fight for the disenfranchised, disregarded, and the condemned.