Monday, February 25, 2019 | news
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed an amicus brief late Friday urging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to rule that the death penalty violates the Commonwealth’s constitutional protection against cruel punishment. The brief argues that the pervasive racial discrimination underlying Pennsylvania’s use of capital punishment is grounds to bar the death penalty and […]
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 | news
Justice Johnson Would be the Court’s First African-American Chief Justice New York, New York—The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed a friend of the court brief in Chisom v. Jindal, in support of claims that Justice Bernette Johnson is next in line to succeed the current chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme […]
Friday, April 11, 2025 | news
Read a PDF of our statement here. Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed amicus briefs supporting law firms Jenner & Block and WilmerHale in their respective lawsuits to permanently block the implementation of executive orders that punish the firms for providing legal representation to clients that the President views as political opponents. Both cases are […]
Friday, September 18, 2020 | news
Yesterday, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court supporting the overturning of the judicial override for capital punishment in Alabama. In previous capital cases, if a jury voted to sentence a defendant to life in prison, a judge in Alabama could override the […]
Tuesday, September 24, 2024 | news
Tonight, Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams is scheduled to be executed by the State of Missouri, unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes. There is compelling evidence that Mr. Williams is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted and for which he is facing execution. Moreover, the proceedings in his case were rife with errors that […]
Tuesday, October 2, 2018 | news
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) today filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case concerning the circumstances under which a juvenile defendant can be sentenced to life in prison without parole. LDF argues that in sentencing a juvenile to life without parole, a Mississippi court ignored clear […]
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 | news
Trial tainted with risk of racial prejudice and stereotyping, LDF argues The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging it to hear Wells v. Guerrero, the case of Amos Wells, a Black man sentenced to death in 2016 following a trial that was tainted with the risk of […]
Friday, February 19, 2021 | news
Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Florida, and the R Street Institute filed an amicus brief in support of certiorari in the Supreme Court case Tarahtick Terry v. United States. Mr. Terry sought resentencing for a 2008 crack-cocaine offense under the 2018 First […]
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 | news
Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed an amicus brief calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to correct an erroneous interpretation of a core civil rights doctrine in National Fair Housing Alliance v. Bank of America. This case comes after 20 fair housing organizations and three homeowners presented evidence that […]
Monday, July 16, 2018 | news
LDF Files Amicus Brief Urging North Carolina Supreme Court to Address Race Discrimination in Death Penalty Cases Brief Calls for Defendants to Receive New Sentences or Have Chance to Challenge Claims of Racial Bias Under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed an amicus brief urging the North Carolina […]
