Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | page
LDF Leadership Janai Nelson President and Director-Counsel Sam Spital Associate Director-Counsel Todd Cox Associate Director-Counsel Claude M. Johnson Chief Development Officer Demetria McCain Director of Policy Tré Murphy Director of Community Organizing Christopher Kemmitt Director of Litigation Karla McKanders Thurgood Marshall Institute Director Deuel Ross Director of Litigation Kevin C. Thomson Chief Financial Officer Jin […]
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | case-issue
Download the St. John the Baptist Parish Schools Environmental Conditions FAQ The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) represents a class of Black school children in St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools in a decades-old federal school desegregation case. St. John is one of the most highly industrialized parishes in Louisiana and […]
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 | news
On March 7, 2013, Rev. William A. “Bill” Lawson, Archbishop Emeritus Joseph A. Fiorenza, and Rabbi Emeritus Samuel Karff eloquently explained how and why their commitments to faith and justice motivated them to speak out and publicly ask the Harris County District Attorney to ensure that Duane Buck — who was sentenced to death in […]
Monday, May 12, 2014 | news
In a piece for the American Constitution Society’s blog, Vincent Southerland argues that “criminal justice reforms need to be driven by the moral imperative of repairing all that is wrong with the current system.” Reforms to our criminal legal system, while welcome, are largely driven by financial incentives and budgetary concerns. For example, the organization […]
Thursday, January 22, 2015 | news
LDF Senior Counsel Vincent Southerland speaks with St. Louis Public Radio about the LDF letter to Judge Maura McShane. The letter requested an appropriate and thorough investigation of the grand jury proceedings of former Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson. LDF since received a letter from Paul Fox, the Director of Judicial Administration at the […]
Tuesday, November 25, 2014 | news
In the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury decision not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Black teenager Michael Brown, LDF Senior Counsel Vincent Southerland puts police violence in historical context and offers ways to break free from its persistence in law enforcement in an op-ed penned in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: […]
Wednesday, August 7, 2013 | news
Justice Sequestered is Justice Denied Southerland Discusses Sequester’s Devastating Effects on Federal Defender Programs Vincent M. Southerland, Senior Counsel in LDF’s Criminal Justice Project, weighed in on the devastating effects of sequestration, which has resulted in a $51 million shortfall for federal defender programs this fiscal year. Because of sequestration, public defenders have been layed-off […]
Thursday, August 23, 2012 | news
(Washington, D.C.) The week-long trial before a three-judge federal court begins on Monday, August 27th in South Carolina v. United States, a case involving South Carolina’s restrictive photo identification law. The trial begins at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 28A (6th Floor) at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., […]
Friday, October 12, 2012 | news
WASHINGTON — A three-judge panel barred South Carolina’s voter ID law from going into effect before the 2012 election on Wednesday, but said it could be implemented in elections beginning in 2013. “Act R54 as interpreted thus satisfies Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and we grant pre-clearance for South Carolina to implement Act […]
Friday, February 16, 2018 | case-issue
The State of South Carolina filed South Carolina v. United States in federal court in Washington, D.C. under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, seeking approval of its proposed restrictive voter ID law. The Department of Justice had already rejected implementation of the law after finding that it would be harmful to minority voters. Because the proposed voter ID law would […]
