We are on the precipice of immense uncertainty. The Trump administration has made it clear through the Project 2025 agenda and executive action that their focus is weakening civil rights protections.
For 85 years, the Legal Defense Fund has worked tirelessly to defend the humanity and advance the rights of Black people in America. We were built to meet this moment with the same force, tenacity that has driven our relentless fight for justice, equality, and full citizenship for Black people.
Our litigation, research, organizing, and policy teams are steeped in the information and methods that will protect the civil rights of Black Americans and all Americans.
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The federal government is the largest employer of Black people across the U.S. and many federal workers are facing uncertainty in the Trump Administration. This resource details rights and protections all federal workers have.
These executive orders are designed to chill and prohibit lawful efforts to advance equal opportunity by spreading disinformation and distorting federal laws to advance an agenda based on division and hate. This resource breaks down about the EOs and their impact.
The “Dear Colleague” letter grossly misstates the law and threatens to cut funding to pre-K-12 schools, colleges, and universities that invest in steps to level the playing field for students, faculty, and staff. Because this letter is designed to instill fear and sow confusion, it’s important to separate fact from fiction.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has long been a pillar of our society, ensuring fair, safe, and equitable education for all students by enforcing important civil rights laws, providing critical resources, and safeguarding valuable protections. Here are three resources and protections threatened by the administration’s efforts to dismatle the Department of Education and what you can do to fight back.
President Trump’s executive order on policing aims to increase aggressive policing and militarization of local law enforcement, make it more difficult to hold law enforcement officers accountable for misconduct, and wields threats of possible federal prosecutions for certain activities. Here is what you need to know about the EO and its potential impact.
LDF has filed lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s actions and executive orders that threaten our civil rights.
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Academy of Education (NAEd) and National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), two education research organizations, challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to no longer collect, maintain, analyze, and disseminate federal educational data. LDF, NAEd, and NCME allege that the Department of Education’s actions violate the Department’s legal obligations and have undermined researchers’ and state and local governments’ efforts to track and advance equal access to education nationwide.
LDF filed a lawsuit on behalf of the NAACP challenging the U.S. Department of Education (ED) attempts to prohibit and chill lawful efforts to ensure that Black students are afforded equal educational opportunities. The Education Department issued a “Dear Colleague” Letter on Feb. 14, followed by a “Frequently Asked Questions” document on Feb. 28 and a certification requirement on April 3 — all of which include factual inaccuracies and misinterpretations of civil rights laws and threaten the termination of critical public education funds. The lawsuit alleges that the Education Department’s communications to recipients of federal funds present a legally flawed and unsupported interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit additionally alleges that the Education Department is intentionally discriminating against Black students through its efforts to defund federal grantees based on erroneous facts and interpretations of law.
A coalition of voting rights organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge President Trump’s unlawful executive order on voting that attempts to seize the power to set voter registration rules from Congress and the states, and doing so in a way that would violate federal law and the Constitution if carried out by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Key provisions of Trump’s order could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, particularly voters of color, women voters, naturalized citizens, voters with disabilities, voters with low incomes, and first-time voters.
On February 19, 2025, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, challenging three anti-equity executive orders from President Trump related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and transgender people. LDF and Lambda Legal claim these orders will severely limit organizations’ ability to provide critical social and health services. The lawsuit also highlights how the executive orders exhibit a particular prejudice against Black and transgender people.
On January 20, a group of immigrants’ rights advocates represented by LDF and co-counsel filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s executive order that interprets of Fourteenth Amendment to eliminate birthright citizenship to children born in the United States. On February 10, 2025 federal court in New Hampshire issued a preliminary injunction blocking the order that seeks to strip certain babies born in the United States of their U.S. citizenship.
U.S. Attorney General
LDF has come out strongly against the confirmation of cabinet members and other appointees who will work to dismantle the institutions that protect our rights and opportunities.
Education Secretary
On February 12, LDF sent a letter to Senate leadership strongly opposing Linda McMahon's confirmation. McMahon’s willingness to destroy of the Department of Education, extremist views toward education policy, and extraordinary lack of experience make her unfit to lead the Department of Education. Read our statement about McMahon's confirmation here.
FBI Director
On January 30, LDF sent a letter to Senate leadership strongly opposing Patel's confirmation. Patel lacks the experience needed to lead the FBI and his track record indicates a willingness to use this position to politically weaponize the FBI against political enemies and journalists. Read our statement regarding his nomination here.
Secretary of Defense
On January 13, LDF sent a letter to Senate leadership expressings strong opposition to Peter Hegseth's confirmation. Hegseth's personal mission to institute divisive policies will set the military back years to when exclusion and segregation based on race, gender and LGBTQI+ identity prominently reigned.
U.S. Attorney General
On January 15, LDF sent a letter opposing Pamela Jo Bondi's confirmation and released a comprehensive report analyzing her record. Bondi’s troubling record on civil rights and voting rights, her blind allegiance to President-elect Trump, and her efforts to undermine the integrity of the election system make her unfit to be Attorney General.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights NOminee
On February 25, LDF sent a letter to Senate leadership opposing Dhillon's nomination. Her attacks on civil rights protections, her efforts to undermine voting rights, and her baseless claims of election fraud as undeniable reasons why she is wholly unfit for the position. Dhillon would turn back the clock on decades of progress, weaponizing the Justice Department to serve an ideological agenda rather than safeguarding the rights of all Americans.
We urged President Biden to use his remaining time in office to commute the sentences of all on federal death row, and he used his clemency power to to issue commutations for over three dozen people on death row.
In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration issued an executive order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI). The executive order recognizes the many dangers that current uses of AI pose to Black communities, and it was an important step toward addressing the many dangers that AI poses to civil rights.
LDF sued President Trump to challenge his “Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping” that prohibited speech, activities, and workplace trainings that address or promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In 2018, LDF filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision to remove Haitian immigrants’ Temporary Protective Status, which allows people from designated countries experiencing violence, conflict, or natural disasters to stay and work in the U.S. The Biden administration restored TPS for Haitian immigrants in 2021.
In the landmark case U.S.P.S v. NAACP LDF successfully challenged the U.S. Postal Service delivery delays to ensure timely delivery of mail-in ballots for the November 2020 election. Our suit resulted in the Postal Service implementing court-ordered procedures to deliver ballots on time.
In 2020 LDF filed a lawsuit against President Trump and the Trump campaign for their ongoing efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election by disenfranchising Black voters in Michigan. The case is ongoing.
