Thursday, April 21, 2022 | news
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded its investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary known as Parchman, finding that there is reasonable cause to believe that the state of Mississippi routinely violated the constitutional rights of incarcerated people through the conditions and practices in Parchman. DOJ found that corrections officials in Parchman failed to […]
Monday, September 26, 2022 | news
The United States Department of Justice last week named Elise Boddie, a constitutional law professor and legal scholar at the University of Michigan, as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, the second highest leadership position within the Civil Rights Division. Ms. Boddie, who was an attorney at the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) from 1997-2005 and returned to […]
Thursday, November 5, 2020 | news
Today, Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) issued the following statement in response to a U.S. District Judge’s ruling this week requiring the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice (Commission) to include a disclaimer at the beginning of its report indicating that […]
Monday, September 13, 2021 | news
Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the conclusion of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) review of the use of monitors in settlement agreements and consent decrees involving state and local governments, which it began in April 2021. In response, Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the […]
Monday, December 6, 2021 | news
Today, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the State of Texas, alleging that new congressional and state-level legislative districts passed by the Texas Legislature engaged in unlawful discrimination. “In enacting its 2021 Congressional and House plans,” the DOJ suit holds, “[Texas] has again diluted the voting strength of minority Texans.” Moreover, […]
Friday, March 18, 2022 | news
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act, a bill to prohibit racial discrimination based on a person’s hairstyle or hair texture. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) has supported the bill since it was first introduced in 2019 and, along […]
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 | news
Today, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in Rodney Reed v. Bryan Goertz, reversing lower court rulings that had closed the courthouse doors on an effort by Rodney Reed, a Black man on death row in Texas, to access DNA evidence that could demonstrate his innocence. After being denied access to post-conviction DNA […]
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 | news
Today, a jury in Minneapolis, Minnesota, convicted Derek Chauvin on second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for killing George Floyd in May 2020. In response, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill issued the following statement: “The trial of Derek Chauvin has been a traumatic and painful reliving […]
Thursday, December 23, 2021 | news
Today, former police officer Kimberly Potter was found guilty on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter in the April 2021 fatal shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. In response, Puneet Cheema, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) Manager of the Justice and Public Safety Project, issued the following statement: “Our hearts go […]
Wednesday, October 20, 2021 | news
Today, the United States Senate voted to confirm Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council for Racial Justice and Equity Catherine Lhamon as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. In response to Ms. Lhamon’s confirmation, Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense […]
