Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), a non-partisan civil and human rights organization, filed an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia a lawsuit challenging President Trump and the Trump Campaign’s ongoing efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election by disenfranchising Black voters. The amended complaint adds the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which has members across the country, as a plaintiff, and the Republican National Committee (RNC) as a defendant. (note: LDF has been a separate organization from the NAACP since in 1957).
On November 20, LDF filed the original complaint on behalf of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and three Detroit residents, alleging violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 11(b) of that Act prohibits attempts to coerce or intimidate state and local officials to not count or certify voters. The new complaint also adds a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), which prohibits conspiracies that interfere with civil rights.
“By targeting communities of color with false claims of voter fraud, and by coordinating actions to pressure state and local officials to discard votes cast in cities with large Black populations, President Trump, his campaign, and the RNC, have undermined our most sacred constitutional values,” said Sam Spital, LDF’s Director of Litigation. “With this suit, we seek to vindicate our clients’ rights and prevent future attacks on the fabric of our democracy.
The law firm Jenner & Block is joining LDF as co-counsel in this suit.
Read the full amended complaint here.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
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