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"The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is simply the best civil rights law firm in American history." -- President Obama

News Updates

  • Bronx DA No Longer Prosecuting Some Stop-And-Frisk Cases

    10/01/12
    Source: 
    WNYC

    The Bronx district attorney's office is no longer prosecuting people stopped and arrested for trespassing unless the arresting officer ensures the arrest is warranted.

    The DA's bureau chief for Arraignments, Jeannette Rucker, sent a letter to the NYPD saying arresting officers will now have to submit to an interview, as first reported by The New York Times.

  • Elise Boddie on Affirmative Action Before the US Supreme Court

    9/30/12
    Source: 
    Up With Chris Hayes

    On September 30, Acting Director of Litigation at LDF Elise Boddie, discussed on MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes" the future of affirmative action and the Supreme Court in the upcoming Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case.

  • Students Say Pricey Test Prep Gives Admissions Advantage

    9/28/12
    Source: 
    NY 1

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city's eight specialized high schools are for the best and the brightest and he thinks the best way to find those students is the way it's been done for decades, using only the results of one 2.5-hour test.

    "I think that Stuyvesant and these other schools are as fair as fair can be," he said Wednesday. "There's nothing subjective about this. You pass the test with the higher score, you get into the school, no matter what your ethnicity, no matter what your economic background."

  • Civil rights dominate Supreme Court term

    9/27/12
    Source: 
    First Read on NBCNews.com

    The U.S. Supreme Court term that begins Monday promises to be one of the most important for civil rights in decades, with the potential for blockbuster decisions on issues from race in classrooms and the voting booth to legal recognition for same-sex marriage.

    Read the full article on First Read.

  • Complaint targets elite HS admissions process, not just outcome

    9/27/12
    Source: 
    Gotham Schools

    It seemed like a good strategy: To boost the tiny number of black and Hispanic students at the city’s most elite high schools, the city this year expanded access to programs meant to prepare eighth-graders for the schools’ admissions test.

    But that approach is fundamentally broken, according to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which today filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test.