Melody Barnes

Melody C. Barnes is an American lawyer and political advisor. Formerly an aide and chief counsel to Senator Ted Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barnes later worked at the Center for American Progress, a think tank, before joining Senator Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. When Obama became president, Barnes was appointed director of the Domestic Policy Council, serving from January 2009 to January 2012. Barnes then assumed roles at the Aspen Institute and New York University. Since 2016, she has been at the University of Virginia (UVA), where she teaches law and is the co-director of the UVA Democracy Initiative.