Tuesday, September 16, 2025 | news
Yesterday, President Trump directed the Secretary of War to request that the Governor of Tennessee deploy Tennessee’s National Guard troops to Memphis. The Memoranda also creates a federal taskforce to use aggressive and counterproductive strategies that have historically harmed Black and Brown communities to address a purported crime emergency, despite the Memphis Police Department’s recent […]
Friday, January 19, 2024 | news
Today, Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the Int. 586, part of the How Many Stops Act (HMSA) that would require the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to more fully document its investigative encounters. The bill will be returned to the New York City Council, where it needs a two-thirds majority vote to override Mayor Adams’ […]
Friday, November 17, 2023 | news
Yesterday, Mayor Eric Adams proposed massive cuts to essential services as part of his FY 2024 budget modification proposal for New York City. According to this plan, all City agencies would face a five percent budget cut, including a $1 billion cut to the Department of Education over two years. New Yorkers would face enormous […]
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 | news
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) today condemned the nomination of Kash Patel to serve as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). LDF President and Director-Counsel Janai Nelson issued the following statement: “Beyond woefully lacking the qualifications to be the Director of the FBI, Kash Patel is an alarming choice to lead the nation’s […]
Thursday, July 17, 2025 | news
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has recommended that former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison serve just one day in prison after a federal jury convicted him of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights by shooting into her window several times during the execution of a “no-knock” warrant at her home. Ms. Taylor’s subsequent death, from […]
Thursday, July 27, 2017 | news
Read the PDF of our statement here. LDF Condemns Justice Department Retreat from LGBTQ Rights On Wednesday, the Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit arguing that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not prohibit discrimination against gay and bisexual employees. Sherrilyn Ifill, President and […]
Thursday, December 10, 2015 | news
This week, xenophobic hate speech reached a fever pitch amid an international refugee crisis and following a tragic mass shooting in the United States. Elected officials have openly vowed to refuse Syrian refugees in violation of constitutional principles and international law. Others have used the San Bernadino massacre to unleash irresponsible and dangerous vitriol against […]
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 | news
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) condemns an Executive Order issued yesterday by President Donald Trump that seeks to sharply curtail the fundamental right to vote for millions of Americans. The order requires individuals to show documents proving their citizenship in order to register to vote – permitting only a narrow set of documents, such as […]
Thursday, May 1, 2025 | news
Yesterday, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services advanced a bill meant to further the Trump administration’s harmful policy priorities by shrinking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding, which comes directly from the Federal Reserve. By limiting the independent agency’s access to these funds, the proposed legislation would expose the agency to political influence […]
Monday, September 23, 2024 | news
Read a PDF of our statement here. Recently, multiple public officials, including Portage County, Ohio Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, unleashed a deluge of hateful language aimed at immigrants of color and asylum seekers. In response, Legal Defense Fund (LDF) President and Director-Counsel Janai Nelson made the following statement: “The recent onslaught of hateful language aimed at immigrants […]
