Saturday, January 24, 2026 | news
Today, a Minneapolis man, Alex Pretti, was fatally shot by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent, according to city officials. The 37-year-old was a U.S. citizen and intensive care unit nurse. Available video evidence appears to show several federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spraying Mr. Pretti with chemicals as he […]
Saturday, August 26, 2023 | news
This week, a referendum campaign by the Cop City Vote coalition faces a new hurdle: the City of Atlanta has revealed it will engage in a signature matching process that courts have repeatedly found to be inaccurate, subjective, and suppressive. The Cop City Vote coalition has been working to halt the construction of Cop City, […]
Saturday, June 17, 2017 | news
NAACP Legal Defense Fund Condemns Education Department’s Decision to Scale Back Civil Rights Enforcement Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education signaled that it would all but abandon its mandate to enforce civil rights protections in America’s public schools, jeopardizing the well-being and academic success of millions of children at a moment when they need those […]
Monday, August 11, 2025 | news
Today, President Trump announced the deployment of the D.C. National Guard and that he would work with state governors to deploy other National Guard units to Washington, D.C. The President issued an executive order claiming a crime emergency in D.C., despite strong evidence to the contrary, and that the federal government would take control of […]
Wednesday, December 3, 2025 | news
Today, the Trump Administration has deployed federal agents to New Orleans, Louisiana and has indicated National Guard troops will soon be deployed. This follows federal National Guard deployments in other states, including Washington D.C., Memphis, Chicago and Los Angeles. In response, Legal Defense Fund (LDF) Director of Strategic Initiatives Jin Hee Lee issued the following […]
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 | news
Yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) gutted regulations that help ensure federal funding recipients don’t maintain discriminatory policies against Black communities and other groups that experience discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. Specifically, the agency announced it will cease to enforce disparate impact liability – a long-standing civil rights enforcement tool used to […]
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 | news
Yesterday, President Trump issued an executive order that, without cause or justification, aims to expand aggressive law enforcement practices that will increase criminalization, funnel federal resources—including military and national security assets—to local law enforcement agencies, bolster already expansive protections for law enforcement officers, and threaten prosecution of state and local officials who promote more equitable […]
Thursday, July 3, 2025 | news
Legal Defense Fund (LDF) President and Director-Counsel Janai S. Nelson issued the following statement on Congress’ passage of the reconciliation bill, H.R. 1: “Congress has just passed one of the most destructive and unjust pieces of legislation in modern history. Their “Big Ugly Bill” is a deliberate assault on the most vulnerable members of our […]
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 | news
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to confirm Neomi Rao to a lifetime appointment to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Todd A. Cox, Policy Director at LDF, issued the following statement: “Neomi Rao’s refusal to endorse the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education didn’t happen when she was in college […]
Thursday, May 10, 2018 | news
Today, the U.S. Senate confirmed Michael Brennan to a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Brennan is one of a handful of judicial nominees expected to be confirmed to federal circuit courts this week. Todd A. Cox, Policy Director at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the […]
