Jennifer Mathis, J.D.

Jennifer Mathis is the Deputy Director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. She returned to the Bazelon Center in early 2025, after serving for four years as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she reviewed the work of the Disability Rights Section and the Special Litigation Section’s disability work.

Prior to joining the Biden Administration, Ms. Mathis worked at the Bazelon Center for 22 years supervising the Center’s policy advocacy and litigating complex lawsuits establishing the rights of individuals with mental disabilities. At Bazelon, she helped litigate the seminal Olmstead case in the Supreme Court and has litigated ground-breaking integration cases in states across the country. During the Obama Administration, Ms. Mathis spent a year as special assistant to EEOC (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) Commissioner Chai Feldblum. .While at EEOC she helped draft regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA) and the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA). Prior to joining the Bazelon Center, Ms. Mathis was with the Disabilities Law Project (Pittsburgh, PA). She holds an A.B. from Harvard University, a M.A. in Social Studies Education from New York University, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.