The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other civil rights groups filed a brief in the United States Supreme Court opposing a request from the State of Texas that the Court take up, at this time, Texas’ ongoing efforts to implement its discriminatory voting scheme.
“There is no need at this time for the Supreme Court to take up Texas’ continued efforts to keep its voter suppression scheme in place,” said LDF Associate Director-Counsel Janai Nelson, who argued Veasey v. Abbott before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. “Court after court, from the district court to the full Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, has affirmed what is clear on its face: Texas’s voter suppression law violates both the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution,” continued Nelson.
“Given the clearly correct findings by the lower courts and the lack of a split among the federal circuit courts, there is currently no need for the Supreme Court to take up this challenge and allow Texas to do an end-run around ongoing proceedings in the district court,” added LDF Senior Counsel Leah Aden.
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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 and 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.
