Thursday, March 29, 2012 | news
John Payton, who died on March 22 at the age of 65, had an infectious optimism and confidence that made all good things not simply possible but probable. As the leader of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc., John reset the odds in the fight for equality. Read the full tribute on TheRoot.com
Friday, March 23, 2012 | news
1946-2012 John Payton, the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and a tireless advocate for justice, equality, and opportunity, died March 22, 2012 after a brief illness. He was 65. LDF is deeply saddened and mourns this tragic loss. John was the 6th leader of LDF, the nation’s first […]
Friday, July 15, 2011 | case-update
The leaders of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) have joined forces to oppose the “State and Local Funding Flexibility Act” – an education bill that would dismantle civil rights protections for poor students, students of color, English language learners and others. John Payton, President and Director-Counsel […]
Friday, June 8, 2018 | director-counsels
John Payton served as LDF’s sixth President and Director-Counsel, a position he held from 2008 until his untimely death after a brief illness in 2012. During his tenure at LDF, Payton guided the organization to resounding legal victories, including Lewis v. City of Chicago, which vindicated the rights of over 6,000 Black applicants who sought […]
Monday, November 14, 2016 | news
President-Elect Trump: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. How did we get to this point? And what do we do now? Last Week Tonight host John Oliver encouraged viewers who had the time and money to support organizations including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, […]
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 | news
Campaign Urges Senators to #StopKavanaugh A diverse coalition of social justice organizations today unveiled a new digital ad featuring singer-songwriter actor John Legend that urges viewers to contact their senators and tell them to vote ‘no’ on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The organizations include the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), […]
Friday, March 30, 2018 | staff
John Cusick (@johnscusick) serves as Assistant Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, where he works on cases and matters that advance racial justice in voting rights and the criminal legal system. John has litigated voting rights cases nationwide, including challenges to penal disenfranchisement, voter-registration restrictions, limited early-voting opportunities, and other racially discriminatory barriers that impede […]
Thursday, March 31, 2022 | news
In advance of Monday’s Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Joel Motley, son of former NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) attorney and lead strategist on the seminal Brown v. Board of Education litigation, who later became the first […]
Thursday, April 5, 2018 | news
The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (LDF) and the law firm of Outten & Golden LLP have reached a settlement with Target Corporation to resolve allegations that its overly broad and outdated criminal background check policy discriminated against African-American and Latino applicants. As part of the settlement, filed on behalf of a class of job applicants, Target […]
Tuesday, July 1, 2014 | news
In a special edition of the Kentucky Courier-Journal, Jin Hee Lee writes on the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act that “The legacy of the Civil Rights Act and the civil rights movement, rests with all of us to ensure that the struggle for freedom and equality lives on. The passage of the Civil Rights Act […]
