Professor Aziz Rana’s work continues to gather accolades. On the heels of being named a 2025 Society for US Intellectual History (S-USIH) Book Prize winner, the constitutional scholar and reformer has been honored by the Marguerite Casey Foundation as one of its 2025 Freedom Scholars.
Freedom Scholars are selected by the foundation in recognition of innovative work that is forward thinking in seeking to advance economic and racial justice, and which connects to social movements working on these issues.
Rana’s most recent award-winning book, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them, has been recognized with rave reviews and praise from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The book takes a more critical look at the US Constitution, highlighting contrasting aspects of constitutional governance in other countries such as those that offer more explicit rights protections for certain groups, those constitutions that are more easily reformed, and those where supreme courts’ powers are more appropriately balanced out by other branches of government.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award and to be included alongside all these remarkable scholars,” said Rana. “It also feels especially important now to engage seriously with how we can promote basic values of democracy. I am therefore very excited to have this opportunity to work with and to learn from an incredible range of community leaders and thinkers.”
Rana joins three other distinguished Freedom Scholars this year as detailed in the Casey Foundation announcement of the awards.