Jonathan Miller

Chief Program Officer at Public Rights Project; Former Chief of the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau, Massachusetts Attorney General's Office

Jonathan Miller is an experienced litigator and government attorney who has committed his career to public interest endeavors.  As the Chief Program Officer of Public Rights Project, Jon oversees an active docket of litigation, amicus writing, and other advocacy. His portfolio has included litigation challenging the Trump administration's deployment of federal agents to Portland, Oregon as well as amicus briefs defending worker protections and eviction moratoriums implemented during the pandemic.

Prior to joining PRP, Jon served as the Chief of the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. In that role, he led a 150-person team engaged in investigations, litigation, and other advocacy in the areas of civil rights, consumer protection, and workers rights. He was co-counsel with Attorney General Healey in a successful challenge of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and helped lead a team that secured more than $100 million of consumer relief in an enforcement action against a subprime lender following the financial crisis of the late 2000s.

Jon’s portfolio of work has included a wide range of matters from those brought on behalf of individuals facing housing discrimination or violation of their civil rights to U.S. Supreme Court advocacy on national topics such as affirmative action, reproductive rights, and marriage equality. In addition to Bureau Chief, Jon served as both an Assistant Attorney General in and Chief of the Civil Rights Division.

Most recently, Jon participated in or oversaw Massachusetts’s cases challenging the travel bans, the termination of the DACA program, regulations that would permit employers to deny contraceptive coverage to their workers, and several actions by the Department of Education relating to for-profit schools. Eager to find creative solutions to difficult problems, Jon also helped to lead an initiative partnering with the Massachusetts Medical Society to develop instructional materials and other information for medical providers to engage in gun safety conversations with their patients.

Throughout his career, Jon has been committed to teaching students and other lawyers. He is a Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School. Jon graduated from Dartmouth College, where he played baseball, and Columbia Law School. He lives in the Boston area with his family.