Monday, August 16, 2021 | news
Today, Sam Spital, Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties to ring the alarm on the current state of voting rights and urged Congress to enact legislation to prevent further attacks on the right to vote and protect our democracy. In his written testimony, Spital flagged concerning observations from LDF’s virtual poll monitoring of […]
Friday, March 1, 2013 | news
SCOTUS Dispatch: ‘Hush Fell’ Over Courtroom Your Take: A civil rights lawyer’s view of the scene as the high court heard a voting-rights case. (Special to The Root) — When our clients from Shelby County, Ala., arrived at the Washington, D.C., offices of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund the night before Supreme Court oral argument in […]
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 | news
Today, LDF Deputy Director of Litigation Deuel Ross testified before the United States House Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Elections at its hearing entitled “American Confidence in Elections: Ensuring Every Eligible American Has the Opportunity to Vote – and for their Vote to Count According to Law.” Mr. Ross testified on the need to […]
Tuesday, November 8, 2022 | news
Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), issued the following statement regarding the myriad challenges experienced by Black voters and other voters of color across the country on Election Day: “In the face of countless barriers, Black voters and other voters of color once again showed their unwavering commitment to exercising […]
Friday, April 25, 2025 | news
Last week, the U.S. Justice Department issued an updated mission statement on behalf of its Civil Rights Division, directing its staff to prioritize the enforcement of a range of irrational and unlawful executive orders from the Trump White House that target civil rights organizations and long-standing practices. In response to the new mission statement, Legal […]
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 | news
Legal Defense Fund (LDF) President and Director-Counsel Janai S. Nelson issued the below statement in response to President Trump’s announcement last night that he was firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Cook is the first woman of color to serve on the Board of Governors, and only the fourth Black appointee ever to serve. “President […]
Monday, May 5, 2025 | news
On May 2, President Donald Trump released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 “skinny” budget proposal, which outlines some of his funding priorities. The president has proposed approximately $163 billion — more than 20% — in funding cuts to federal programs including those that support housing, health, education, criminal justice, civil rights enforcement, and scientific research […]
Friday, May 9, 2025 | news
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) condemns yesterday’s capricious and irrational firing of Dr. Carla D. Hayden, Librarian of Congress. Dr. Hayden was appointed as the 14th Librarian of Congress in 2016, confirmed with a bipartisan vote, and served the American people as a well-respected and diligent steward of the world’s largest library. She was fired […]
Friday, November 14, 2025 | news
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) strongly condemns the Texas A&M University system’s newly adopted policy that requires approval from the university president for courses on race, gender, and gender identity in a stark departure from normal practices for all other courses. LDF calls for the immediate reversal of the policy, urging Texas A&M leadership to […]
Friday, June 30, 2023 | news
Today, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in Biden v. Nebraska, striking down the Biden administration’s plan to provide relief to student loan borrowers under the HEROES Act. The Court dismissed the other student debt case, Department of Education v. Brown, due to the plaintiffs’ lack of standing. The Biden administration’s plan, announced in August 2022, would have canceled $10,000 […]
