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Hithon v. Tyson Foods, Inc.

John Hithon worked at a Tyson Foods plant in Gadsden, Alabama for 13 years. Despite his experience, when two supervisor jobs opened up at his plant he was passed over, remaining stuck in lower management. Instead, two white men from other plants were hired. Hithon believed his supervisor’s failure to promote him resulted from racial […]

History Lessons

The Sweatt family’s brief in the pending Supreme Court case, Fisher v. University of Texas, which the justices will hear next Wednesday, makes much of Chief Justice Vinson’s reference to “the interplay of ideas and the exchange of views.” It was, the brief maintains, “this court’s first recognition of the importance of diversity in higher […]

History Highlights: The March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom

History

The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law firm. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled […]

History

The Battle for the Ballot LDF has also consistently fought to eliminate barriers to full political participation by all Americans in our nation’s democratic processes.  In 1943, Thurgood Marshall successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to rule in Smith v. Allwright that Texas’s refusal to allow African-Americans to vote in the Democratic primary election violated the […]

Historic Win: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Alabama’s Congressional Map Violates the Voting Rights Act by Diluting Black Political Power

CONTACT: Ella Wiley, LDF, media@naacpldf.org  Inga Sarda-Sorensen, ACLU, 347-514-3984, isarda-sorensen@aclu.org WASHINGTON – In a historic win for voting rights, the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled in Allen v. Milligan in favor of Black voters, affirming the district court’s order striking down Alabama’s 2021-enacted congressional map for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) for […]

Historic Number of Corporations File Amicus Briefs in U.S. Supreme Court in Support of College Admissions Policies That Foster Diversity

In a show of historic and overwhelming support for affirmative action, 82 corporations and business groups (see list below) signed three amicus briefs filed in the Supreme Court of the United States in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina asking the Court to uphold over 40 years […]

Historic Black Community Condemns EPA for Failing to Enforce Civil Rights

Read a PDF of our statement here.  HISTORIC BLACK COMMUNITY CONDEMNS EPA FOR FAILING TO ENFORCE CIVIL RIGHTS  After Neglecting Investigation for 14 Years, EPA Closes Civil Rights Complaint Filed Against an Alabama State Agency Earthjustice: Keith Rushing / krushing@earthjustice.org / (202) 667-4500, ext. 5236 LDF: Phoebe Plagens / pplagens@naacpldf.org / (212) 965-2235 Environmental Justice Clinic at Yale Law […]

Highlights of LDF’s Activities since Shelby v. Holder

It’s been nearly one year since the Supreme Court declared on June 25, 2013 in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder that states with a history of chronic racial discrimination no longer needed to get Justice Department approval for changes to voting rules under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  As a result of that […]

Highlights from First Week of Texas’ Photo ID Trial

The second week of testimony begins today in the voter ID trial in United States v. Texas, a federal challenge to Texas’s discriminatory photo ID law, Senate Bill 14.  In this case with important national implications, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and its co-counsel law firm Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and […]