The Lawyers Division of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) New York Region held its 21st annual Edward Brodsky Legal Conference, on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at the Times Center in New York City. Each year, the Edward Brodsky Legal Conference brings together distinguished academics, journalists and policy experts to debate timely legal issues. This year’s theme was “The 50th Anniversary of Selma: Its Legacy and Enduring Challenges,” and dealt with the significant changes to voting rights, redistricting and campaign finance, and what they mean to American democracy.
This panel featured Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Cheryl Greenberg, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of History; and Dennis Parker, Director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program; and was moderated by Deborah M. Lauter, National Director of Civil Rights.
Janai Nelson on the Voting Rights Act: “It defies reality, and not only reality, it defies the record. [For the Supreme Court] To not recognize and defer to Congress’s judgment on whether there are ills in society that ought to be addressed by legislation is an abomination.”
Watch a recording of the event here.
