Cassandra Butts

Why She Matters

Butts is a part of President Barack Obama’s Harvard Law School clique, and she describes herself as being “as close to Barack as anyone in law school.”“Interview with Cassandra Butts,” PBS Frontline, July 10, 2008

Butts is a Washington, D.C., insider who has spent more than a dozen years working for some of the most powerful people in nation’s capital. She directed policy for House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) and worked for John D. Podesta’s Center for American Progress (CAP) until joining Obama’s transition team as general counsel after the 2008 elections.

She spent nearly a year at the Obama White House, focusing on ethics and domestic policy,  before Obama named her to advise the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent foreign aid agency created by Congress.

Butts is one of Obama’s oldest friends and closest advisers, and she's part of the network of Harvard alums throughout the administration. “If you think about the progression of the president-elect’s national career, initially he didn’t have a national network of people who he could call on,” Butts said. “The Harvard group was helpful on that front — helping him make introductions on policy, political and financial fronts.”Brown, Carrie Budoff, “School buds: 20 Harvard classmates advising Obama,” Politico.com, Dec. 5, 2008

Path to Power

Butts was born in Brooklyn, but moved to Durham, N.C., when she was nine years old. She earned a B.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was politically involved and participated in protests against apartheid. After college, she worked for a year with the African News Service in Durham before enrolling at Harvard Law School.Cooper, Helene, “The new team: Cassandra Q. Butts,” The New York Times, Nov. 24, 2008

It was in her first few days at Harvard that she met Barack Obama in the school’s financial aid office. “We were going through the process of filling out a lot of paperwork that would make us significantly in debt to Harvard for years to come,” she said. “We bonded over that experience.”“Interview with Cassandra Butts,” PBS Frontline, July 10, 2008 The two of them stayed good friends throughout law school.

While Obama was working on the Harvard Law Review, Butts was protesting with Derrick Bell, Harvard’s first tenured black professor, over the university’s hiring practices. “Historically, Harvard Law School had had about a 10 percent African American population, and it was about 10 percent when we were there,” Butts said. “But there weren’t a lot of role models in terms of the faculty. We had a handful of African American men who were on faculty, but we had no women of color.”“Interview with Cassandra Butts,” PBS Frontline, July 10, 2008

Though they stayed friends, after college Butts and Obama went separate ways. While Obama went back to Chicago to work as a community organizer, Butts moved directly to Washington. She received a fellowship from Georgetown University focusing on women’s law and public policy and began her career working as a legislative counsel to then-Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.). She left the Hill to work as assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund for three years.Olanoff, Lynn and Yachin, Jennifer, “Hill Climbers: New Deputy,” Roll Call, March 11, 2002

Butts returned to Congress in 1996 as a staffer for then-House Minority Leader Gephardt (D-Mo.). Butts served as general counsel to the House Democratic Policy Committee under Gephardt for six years and later became the committee’s deputy director.Olanoff, Lynn and Yachin, Jennifer, “Hill Climbers: New Deputy,” Roll Call, March 11, 2002    She volunteered as policy director for Gephardt's failed 2004 presidential bid, and left his office shortly after Gephardt dropped out of the race.

In March 2004, Butts joined Podesta’s Center for American Progress (CAP), where she was vice president for domestic policy. She helped Obama with his Senate transition in 2004 and 2005 and eventually left CAP to volunteer on Obama's 2008 presidential campaign as a senior policy adviser. Obama appointed her general counsel for the 2008 transition team, a job that eventually led to her appointment as a deputy White House counsel with a focus on domestic policy and ethics.Politico Staff, “Transition names more key WH staff,” Politico.com, Dec. 23, 2008

In November 2009, Obama named her senior adviser to the CEO of the Millenium Challenge Corporation, an independent aganecy created by Congress in 2004 to determine better ways to deliver U.S. aid to foreign nation sin need. Millenium Challenge Corporation Web site

The Issues

After 17 years in D.C., Butts is the Washington insider that Obama says he is not. She is a lawyer by trade, but has spent her time advising one of the most powerful members of Congress and one of the city’s most powerful progressive think tanks. Early in her career, she spent three years with the NAACP, where she advised on civil rights policy and litigated voting rights and school desegregation cases.Barack Obama’s campaign Web site

Butts was Gephardt’s top adviser on a slew of domestic issues including the judiciary, financial services and information technology. She advised the minority leader during the 1998 impeachment hearings and drafted legislation to create the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.Barack Obama’s campaign Web site

Butts left Gephardt’s office to work for the liberal think tank CAP, where she was senior vice president for domestic policy. Although she was a registered lobbyist, she did little lobbying.Cooper, Helene, “The new team: Cassandra Q. Butts,” The New York Times, Nov. 24, 2008She mostly advised on policy decisions.

Though she specialized in domestic policy at the White House, Butts has always taken an interest in international politics. While in college at UNC, she participated in protests against apartheid, and, in 2000, she went to Zimbabwe as an election observer for the parliamentary elections.

The Network

Butts knows Obama from Harvard Law School, where they met during their first week. They stayed good friends throughout school and Butts said she was as close to Obama as anyone during law school. She still has his constitutional law book, which she took as collateral when she lent him a Miles Davis/John Coltrane album. He has yet to return it.Cooper, Helene, “The new team: Cassandra Q. Butts,” The New York Times, Nov. 24, 2008

Butts was well-connected in Washington well before Obama arrived in the Senate. She worked for House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt for six years and then spent time at John D. Podesta’s Center for American Progress. In the White House, she will worked under White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig and Principal Deputy White House Counsel Daniel Meltzer