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Uruj Sheikh

Uruj Sheikh (she/her) joins LDF as an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Latham & Watkins LLP. Her fellowship project aims to combat the coordinated assault on the voting rights of Black voters in the Deep South.   She is a 2022 graduate of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. While […]

UPDATED: Joint Statement of Education and Civil Rights Organizations Concerning Equitable Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic School Closures and Beyond

The undersigned organizations representing teachers, parents, and education and civil rights advocates are committed to equitable educational opportunities for our nation’s students.  Understandably, as the COVID-19 pandemic extended to the United States, federal, state, tribal, and local governments closed school buildings to prevent the spread of the novel virus. School closures have impacted 55 million […]

Upcoming Oral Argument in Lewis v. Chicago

On Tuesday March 29th oral argument will be presented before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Lewis v. Chicago, the ongoing litigation to secure justice for over 6,000 African-American firefighter applicants unfairly denied jobs with the Chicago Fire Department.

Unused Road Home money is frozen by federal appeals court

A U.S. appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., has granted fair housing advocates an injunction barring the state of Louisiana from redistributing unused Road Home funds toward other programs. The decision puts a crimp in plans by several state legislators to redirect about $148 million left in the largest housing recovery aid program in U.S. history as […]

Unraveling the Many Costs of Discriminatory Redistricting

It Starts with Maps – And Ends With Oppressive Laws Unraveling the Many Costs of Discriminatory Redistricting By Ella Wiley Senior Communications Associate The United States’ current political and legislative landscape may best be described as a moral panic. Restrictions on abortion access and the perpetuation of anti-LGBTQ legislation, book bans, and propagandistic education have […]

Unlocking Opportunity For African American Girls

University of Texas’ use of race in admissions goes before court

[NEW ORLEANS] Three federal appeals court judges gave no clear signal Tuesday of how they might rule in a case challenging the University of Texas' consideration of race and ethnicity in undergraduate admissions. The judges with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in New Orleans by lawyers defending UT's practice and […]

United States v. Skrmetti

United States v. Skrmetti Defending access to critical health care services for transgender youth Amicus Brief Filed: Sept. 3, 2025 SCOTUS Decision Issued: Jun. 18, 2025 On June 18, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in United States v. Skrmetti, which challenged a Tennessee law (S.B. 1) that bans medically necessary gender-affirming health care […]

United States v. New York City Board of Education: NYC School Custodian Employment Discrimination

In United States v. New York City Board of Education, LDF is defending the lawfulness of a 1999 settlement between the Board of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).  In 1996, DOJ sued the Board of Education for employment discrimination.  The evidence established that African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and women were disproportionately excluded by […]

United States v. Blewett

On Wednesday, October 9, 2013, the full (en banc) United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit heard oral arguments in U.S. v. Blewett, to decide whether the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) of 2010 — which reduced the federal government’s notorious 100:1 sentencing ratio for crack and powder cocaine to 18:1 — applies to all offenders, regardless of their date of sentence.  […]