Op-Eds
April 30, 2026
This op-ed by RepresentWomen's Cynthia Richie Terrell, Amid Escalating Attacks on the Voting Rights Act and U.S. Democracy in Crisis, Lani Guinier’s Vision Feels More Urgent Than Ever, was published in Ms. magazine in April 2026. Read an excerpt below.
Lani Guinier’s birthday was earlier this month. She would have been 76 years old. And on April 19, I found myself, as I do each year when her birthday comes around, not reaching for words to describe her work, because her work speaks for itself, but reaching for a memory.
I first met Guinier when I was 15. My best friend’s father was the dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and he hosted a cocktail party for her when she had just joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. I still remember the buzz in the room when she was introduced, and the feeling even at 15 that I was in the presence of someone very important.
She spoke that evening with such clarity and conviction about the Voting Rights Act, the right to vote, and the right to real representation that something settled in me. Her words directly impacted the direction of my life path, providing a north star I have not lost sight of since.
Read the complete op-ed on Ms. magazine.
