We are on the precipice of immense uncertainty. The incoming Trump administration has made it clear through the Project 2025 agenda that their focus will be weakening civil rights protections.
For 85 years, the Legal Defense Fund has worked tirelessly to defend and advance the full dignity and citizenship 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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Pam Bondi
Attorney General Nominee
We’re coming out strongly against the confirmation of cabinet members and other appointees who will work to dismantle the institutions that protect our rights and opportunities.
Linda McMahon
Education Secretary Nominee
Linda McMahon will weaken civil rights protections for vulnerable students if confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Education. On February 12, 2025, we sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Health, Education Labor & Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy and Ranking Member Bernie Sanders strongly opposing Ms. McMahon's confirmation. Ms. McMahon’s acquiescence to the planned destruction of the ED, extremist views toward education policy, extraordinary lack of experience, and efforts to undermine democracy at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), make her wholly unfit to lead the Department of Education.
Kash Patel
FBI Director Nominee
Kash Patel will infringe on the constitutional rights of Americans if confirmed as the Director of the FBI.
Peter Hegseth
Secretary of Defense
Peter Hegseth will pose a threat to national security as Secretary of Defense.
Pamela Jo Bondi
U.S. Attorney General
Pamela Jo Bondi will undermine the right to vote and the integrity of our elections as Attorney General.
Harmeet Dhillon
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights NOminee
Harmeet Dhillon will prioritize partisan interests over civil rights protections if confirmed as the Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
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.
We 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 we 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.