In Their Words Women of LDF on Constance Baker Motley’s Enduring Legacy By Sarah Friedmann Director of Original Content and Editor in Chief Through her storied career, Constance Baker Motley left an indelible mark, advancing civil rights in the United States, improving countless lives through her work on desegregation and equity — and breaking numerous professional barriers in the process. Motley was the first Black woman to be elected to the New York State Senate, serve as President of the Borough of Manhattan, be appointed to a federal judgeship, and act as Chief Judge for the Southern District of New
Lawyer. Advocate. Judge. Elected Official. Motley with LDF founder Thurgood Marshall and former LDF Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg. One of LDF’s first female attorneys, Constance Baker Motley wrote the original complaint in Brown v. Board of Education and pioneered the legal campaigns for several seminal school desegregation cases. She was the first Black woman to argue before the Supreme Court and went on to win nine out of ten cases. Motley became the first Black woman to serve in the New York State Senate and the first woman to serve as Manhattan Borough President. When President Johnson appointed her to the
LDF filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee challenging Florida’s new law that greatly restricts voting access. The lawsuit argues that S.B. 90 creates unnecessary barriers and burdens that disproportionately impact Black and Latinx voters, and voters with disabilities, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the First, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In March 2022, Florida voters secured an important victory when a federal judge struck down Florida’s suppressive voting law, S.B. 90, ruling that it violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
All Hands on Deck: Closing the COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Gap in Maryland April 23, 2021 On March 1, 2021, Governor Larry Hogan announced Maryland’s plan to improve equity in vaccine distribution. This equity plan included a public-private partnership between Maryland’s health department, the University of Maryland Medical System, and Johns Hopkins Medicine to focus on vaccinating the most vulnerable communities in Baltimore. The state’s Vaccine Equity Task Force (VETF), led by Maryland National Guard Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead, implements the state’s equity plan to expand COVID-19 vaccine access to “underserved, vulnerable, and hard to reach areas.” Through VETF, the