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Karla McKanders

Karla McKanders joined the Thurgood Marshall Institute as its Director in June 2023, bringing with her extensive experience in teaching Critical Race Theory and Immigration Law at Vanderbilt University Law School. Notably, she was the Associate Director of Vanderbilt’s Clinical Program where she also served as the Founding Director of the Immigration Practice Clinic, supervising […]

Kaisha Oliver

Kagan Scrutinized for Confirmation This Week As Black Support Grows

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Former Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan, President Obamas pick for the U. S. Supreme Court, has gained more Black civil rights support as she goes before the U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee this week.

K-12 Voluntary Integration

Since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, parents and community leaders have repeatedly petitioned courts throughout the country, demanding that the judiciary give life and meaning to Brown by ordering wayward school districts to dismantle their racially segregated school systems. In the face of great resistance, and sometimes violence, these leaders valiantly insisted that […]

Juvenile Life Without Parole

In May of 2008, The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) released, “No Chance to Make it Right: Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders in Mississippi.” This groundbreaking report examines the racial, social, political, and economic circumstances surrounding juvenile life without parole sentencing in Mississippi.  LDF’s study found that African-Americans are significantly overrepresented among […]

Juvenile Injustice

Step by step, the Supreme Court has been trying to reshape the way the American criminal justice system deals with those under the age of 18. In Miller v. Alabama this June, it ruled that a mandatory life sentence without parole for a juvenile is cruel and unusual punishment, even when the crime is homicide. The Miller […]

Justices to re-examine use of race in college admissions

Heman Marion Sweatt and Abigail Noel Fisher both wanted to attend the University of Texas at Austin. Both claimed their race was a primary reason for their rejection. Both filed civil rights lawsuits, and the Supreme Court ultimately agreed to hear their separate appeals — filed more than half a century apart. Their cases share […]

Justices Silent Over Execution Drug Secrecy

WASHINGTON (AP) — No one on the Supreme Court objected publicly when the justices voted to let Arizona proceed with the execution of Joseph Wood, who unsuccessfully sought information about the drugs that would be used to kill him. Inmates in Florida and Missouri went to their deaths by lethal injection in the preceding weeks […]

Justices Should Support, Not Hinder Congressional Work to Protect Voting Rights

The United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument tomorrow in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, one of the most important voting rights cases of our generation.  In the case, Shelby County seeks to tear out the heart of the Voting Rights Act, Section 5. The Voting Rights Act is widely regarded as the most successful piece of civil […]

Justice Requires Federal Investigation in the Killing of Trayvon Martin

Christina Swarns, Director of LDF’s Criminal Justice Practice and Interim Director of Litigation, writes in the New York Times about why the pursuit of justice requires a federal investigation into the killing of Trayvon Martin.  Recounting the history of federal intervention in cases where “innocent African-Americans were hunted, shot and killed because of their race, Ms. Swarns argues […]