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introduction The Legal Defense Fund’s mission has always been transformative: to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society. The new political landscape and retrenchment in key areas of civil rights pose unprecedented threats to the hard-won gains of the last half-century. From new assaults on voting rights to a renewed push to undermine equal […]

Our Girls, Our Future: Investing in Opportunity & Reducing Reliance on the Criminal Justice System in Baltimore

Oral Arguments Wrap in U.S. Supreme Court Case Challenging South Carolina’s Congressional Map for Racial Discrimination

WASHINGTON — This morning, oral arguments concluded in Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the U.S. Supreme Court case that will determine the fate of South Carolina’s congressional map. Shortly after the map was enacted, plaintiffs challenged it as a racial gerrymander designed with a discriminatory purpose under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth […]

Oral Arguments Wrap in Case Urging Maryland Appellate Court to Defend Public Education for Baltimore City Schoolchildren

Media: Legal Defense Fund – ldf@a-g.com ACLU of Maryland – media@aclu-md.org This morning, oral arguments concluded in Bradford v. Maryland State Board of Education, a case in the Appellate Court of Maryland on behalf of Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPSS) families, challenging the State of Maryland’s funding and resources provided to BCPSS. The plaintiffs, represented […]

Oral Arguments Conclude in U.S. Supreme Court Case Challenging Alabama Congressional Map

Washington, D.C. — October 4, 2022 — Plaintiffs and attorneys in Merrill v. Milligan, a case challenging Alabama’s new congressional map for diluting the ability of Black voters to elect candidates of their choice, held a press conference at the conclusion of oral arguments where they highlighted what’s at stake in this critical voting rights […]

Opposition to the Confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett

There are myriad compounding factors that make the advancement of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court a direct threat to the legitimacy of our democracy. Because of the highly politicized circumstances surrounding her nomination, the truncated process the Senate majority intends to pursue over vociferous dissent from the Senate minority and the […]

Open Communities Alliance, et al. v. Carson et al.

On October, 23rd, 2017 five organizations – the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC law firm, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Public Citizen Litigation Group–sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) challenging its […]

Op-ed: Fair housing for renters, low-income remains lost after Sandy

Veronica Joice wrote a critical and timely op-ed exposing the failure of local governments to address the needs of individuals and families with no real safety net — low-income renters.  The shortfalls she identifies emphasize the need for LDF and other stakeholders to hold federal and local governments accountable for the billions of dollars that […]

Online Voter Registration: Good for States, Good for Voters

Online Voter Registration: Good for States, Good for Voters  August 11, 2020 Availability of Online Voter Registration Has Grown Significantly Since its 2002 Inception In 49 states and the District of Columbia, citizens who are eligible to vote must register with the state before they can vote.1 Traditionally, voters were required to register by submitting […]

One Year Anniversary of Joint Guidance on School Discipline Continues Push For Non-Discrimination Policies in Public Schools

Today commemorates the one-year anniversary of the issuance of historic Joint Guidance on School Discipline by the Departments of Education and Justice (see Secretary Duncan’s Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline).  The historic guidance recognizes the impact of discriminatory discipline practices, which are disproportionately pushing students of color out of school, […]