The
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (
NAACP LDF, the
Inc. Fund, or simply
LDF) is a leading
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
organization and law firm based in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
The organization can trace its origins to the legal department of the
NAACPThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
that was created by
Charles Hamilton HoustonCharles Hamilton Houston was an African American lawyer, Dean of Howard University Law School and NAACP Litigation Director who played a significant role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws and trained future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.Houston was born in Washington, D.C. His father...
in the 1930s. However, in 1939, LDF was spun off from the NAACP and, by 1957,
Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
, Houston's student and the future
U.S. Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
Justice, had established LDF as a new organization totally independent of the NAACP.
John PaytonJohn A. Payton is a well-known African-American civil rights attorney. In 2008, Payton was appointed the sixth president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Prior to this, he was a Partner at the law firm Wilmer Hale for twenty years. -Early life and education:Payton grew up in...
is LDF's 6th and current director-counsel and president.
About
While primarily focused on the civil rights of
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s in the U.S., LDF states it has "been instrumental in the formation of similar organizations that have replicated its organizational model in order to promote equality for Asian-Americans, Latinos, and women in the United States." LDF has also been involved in "the campaign for human rights throughout the world, including in South Africa, Canada, Brazil, and elsewhere."
LDF's national office is in
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, with regional offices in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
LDF has nearly two dozen staff
lawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
s and hundreds of cooperating attorneys across the nation.
Areas of activity
- Litigation
- Advocacy
- Educational outreach
- Policy research and monitoring legislation
- Coalition-building
- Provides scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s for exceptional African-American students.
Areas of concern
- Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
- Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
- Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
- Political Participation
- Voting rights
- Felony disfranchisement
- Economic access
- Employment discrimination
Employment discrimination is discrimination in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, and compensation. It includes various types of harassment....
- Environmental justice
Environmental justice is "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." In the words of Bunyan Bryant,...
- Fair housing
In the United States, the fair housing policies date largely from the 1960s. Originally, the terms fair housing and open housing came from a political movement of the time to outlaw discrimination in the rental or purchase of homes and a broad range of other housing-related transactions, such as...
- Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
- Opposition to the death penalty
- Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
- Sixth Amendment
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions...
Creation and separation from the NAACP
The board of directors of the NAACP created the Legal Defense Fund in 1939 specifically for tax purposes. In 1957, intimidated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the
Internal Revenue ServiceThe Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
, the NAACP spun off the Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. as a new legal entity with its own board and staff. Although LDF was originally meant to operate in accordance with NAACP policy, after 1961, serious disputes emerged between the two organizations. These disputes ultimately led the NAACP to create its own internal legal department while LDF continued to operate and score significant legal victories as an independent organization.
At times, this separation has created considerable confusion in the eyes and minds of the public. Indeed, in the 1980s, the NAACP unsuccessfully sued LDF for trademark infringement.
Prominent cases
Probably the most famous case in the history of LDF was
Brown v. Board of EducationBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
, the landmark case in 1954 in which the
United States Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
explicitly outlawed
de jureDe jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
racial segregationRacial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
of
public educationState schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
facilities. During the civil rights protests of the 1960s, LDF represented "the legal arm of the civil rights movement" and provided counsel for Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, among others.
1930s
- 1935 Murray v. Pearson
Pearson v. Murray was a Maryland Court of Appeals decision which found "the state has undertaken the function of education in the law, but has omitted students of one race from the only adequate provision made for it, and omitted them solely because of their color." On January 15, 1936, the court...
, removed unconstitutional color bar from the University of Maryland School of LawThe University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is the second-oldest law school in the United States by date of establishment and third-oldest by date of first classes. The school is located on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore in Downtown Baltimore's West Side...
admission policy. (Managed by Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP before the formal foundation of LDF.)
- 1938: Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada
Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 U.S. 337 , was a United States Supreme Court decision holding that states that provide a school to white students must provide in-state education to blacks as well...
, invalidated state laws that denied African-American students access to all-white state graduate schools when no separate state graduate schools were available for African Americans. (Handled by Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP before the formal foundation of LDF.)
1940s
- 1940: Abbington v Board of Education of Louisville (KY), a suit argued by Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
and dropped though the settlement led to the removal of a 15 percent salary discrepancy between black and white teachers in the Louisville, KentuckyLouisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
public schools (see NAACP in KentuckyNAACP in Kentucky is very active with branches all over the state, largest being in Louisville and Lexington. The continues today to fight against injustices and for the equality of all people....
)
- 1940: Alston v. School Board of City of Norfolk, a federal court order that African-American public school teachers be paid salaries equal to whites, regardless of race.
- 1940: Chambers v. Florida
Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 , was an important United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the extent that police pressure resulting in a criminal defendant's confession violates the Due Process clause.-Case:...
, overturned the convictions — based on coerced confessions — of four young black defendants accused of murdering an elderly white man.
- 1944: Smith v. Allwright
Smith v. Allwright , 321 U.S. 649 , was a very important decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Democratic Party's use of all-white primaries in Texas, and other states where the party used the...
, a voting rights case in which the Supreme Court required TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
to allow African Americans to vote in primary electionA primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
s, formerly restricted to whites.
- 1946: Morgan v. Virginia, desegregated
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
seating on interstate buses.
- 1947: Patton v. Mississippi, ruled against strategies that excluded African Americans from criminal
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
juriesA jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
.
- 1948: Shelley v. Kraemer
Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 , is a United States Supreme Court case which held that courts could not enforce racial covenants on real estate.-Facts of the case:...
, overturned racially discriminatory real estate covenants
- 1948: Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla.
Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., 332 U.S. 631 is a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution....
, reaffirmed and extended Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, ruling that OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
could not bar an African-American student from its all-white law schoolA law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
on the ground that she had not requested the state to provide a separate law school for black students.
1950s
- 1950: McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637 , was a United States Supreme Court case that reversed a lower court decision upholding the efforts of the state-supported University of Oklahoma to adhere to the state law requiring African-Americans to be provided graduate or professional education...
, ruled against practices of segregation within a formerly all-white graduate school insofar as they interfered with meaningful classroom instruction and interaction with other students.
- 1950: Sweatt v. Painter
Sweatt v. Painter, , was a U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully proved lack of equality, in favor of a black applicant, the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. The case was also influential in the landmark case of Brown v...
, ruled against a Texas attempt to circumvent Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada with a hastily established inferior law school for black students.
- 1953: Barrows v. Jackson, reaffirmed Shelley v. Kraemer, preventing state courts from enforcing restrictive covenants.
- 1954: Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
, explicitly outlawed de jure racial segregation of public education facilities.
- 1956: Gayle v. Browder, overturned segregation of city buses; see also Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many important figures in the civil rights movement were involved in the boycott,...
.
- 1957: Fikes v. Alabama, a further ruling against forced confessions.
- 1958: Cooper v. Aaron
Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 , was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which held that the states were bound by the Court's decisions, and could not choose to ignore them.-Background of the case:...
barred Arkansas Governor Orval FaubusOrval Eugene Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the...
from interfering with the desegregation of Little RockLittle Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
's Central High School; see also Little Rock NineThe Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then...
.
1960s
- 1961: Holmes v. Danner, began the desegregation of the University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
.
- 1962: Meredith v. Fair, won James Meredith
James H. Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President...
admission to the University of MississippiThe University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
- 1963: LDF attorneys defended Martin Luther King, Jr. against contempt
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
charges for demonstrating without a permit in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. See Letter from Birmingham JailThe Letter from Birmingham Jail or Letter from Birmingham City Jail, also known as The Negro Is Your Brother, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King, Jr., an American civil rights leader...
.
- 1963: Watson v. City of Memphis, ruled segregation of public parks unconstitutional.
- 1963: Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, ended segregation of hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s that received Federal construction funds.
- 1964: Willis v. Pickrick Restaurant, ruled against segregation in public facilities such as restaurants; Lester Maddox
Lester Garfield Maddox was an American politician who was the 75th Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971....
closed his restaurant rather than integrate.
- 1964: McLaughlin v. Florida
McLaughlin v. Florida 379 U.S. 184 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a cohabitation law of Florida, part of the state's anti-miscegenation laws, was unconstitutional. The law prohibited habitual cohabitation by two unmarried people of opposite sex, if one...
, ruled against anti-miscegenation lawsAnti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
. See also on this issue, Eilers v. Eilers (argued by James A. Crumlin, Sr.) - details in NAACP in KentuckyNAACP in Kentucky is very active with branches all over the state, largest being in Louisville and Lexington. The continues today to fight against injustices and for the equality of all people....
.
- 1965: Williams v. Wallace, made court order to allow a voting-rights march in Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which had previously been stopped twice by state police.
- 1965: Hamm v. City of Rock Hill, overturned all convictions of demonstrators' participating in civil rights sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
s.
- 1965: Abernathy v. Alabama and Thomas v. Mississippi, reversed state convictions of Alabama and Mississippi Freedom Riders on the basis of Boynton v. Virginia
Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The case overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whites only." It held that racial segregation in public...
.
- 1967: Quarles v. Philip Morris, overturned the practice of "departmental seniority", which had forced non-white workers to give up their seniority rights when they transferred to better jobs in previously white-only departments.
- 1967: Green v. County School Board of New Kent County
Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 was an important United States Supreme Court case dealing with the freedom of choice plans created to comply with the mandate in Brown II...
, ruled that "freedom of choice" was an insufficient response to segregated schools.
- 1967: Loving v. Virginia
Loving v. Virginia, , was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v...
, ruled that state laws banning interracial marriage ("anti-miscegenation lawsAnti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
") in Virginia and 15 other states were unconstitutional because they violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
.
- 1968: Newman v. Piggie Park, established that prevailing plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
s in civil rights act cases are entitled to receive attorneys' fees from the losing defendantA defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...
.
- 1969: Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham
Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147 , was a United States Supreme Court case. The Petitioner was Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth an African American minister who helped lead 52 African Americans in an orderly civil rights march in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963...
, ruled against using the paradeA parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
permitPermit may refer to:*Permit *Various legal licenses:*License*Work permit*Learner's permit*Permit to travel*Construction permit*Home Return Permit*One-way Permit*Permit is the common name for the Trachinotus falcatus, a type of Pompano....
ting process as a means of suppressing First Amendment rights.
- 1969: Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham, ruled that low-income public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
tenantsA leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
could not be summarily evictedHow you doing???? Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detainer, summary possession, summary dispossess, forcible detainer, ejectment, and repossession, among other terms...
.
- 1969: Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp., required due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
for the garnishmentA garnishment is a means of collecting a monetary judgment against a defendant by ordering a third party to pay money, otherwise owed to the defendant, directly to the plaintiff...
of wages.
- 1969: Allen v. State Board of Elections, guaranteed the right to a write-in vote.
1970s
- 1970: Ali v. The Division of State Athletic Commission, restored Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
's boxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
license.
- 1970: Carter v. Jury Commission, approved Federal suits over discrimination in the selection of juries.
- 1970: Turner v. Fouche, overruled a requirement in Taliaferro County, Georgia
Taliaferro County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 2,077, making it the least populous county east of the Mississippi River. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 1,884. The county seat is Crawfordville.The spelling of the...
that grand juryA grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
and school board membership be limited to owners of real propertyIn English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...
.
- 1971: Kennedy-Park Homes Association v. City of Lackawanna, forbade a city government from interfering in the construction of low-income housing in a predominantly white section of the city.
- 1971: Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 was an important United States Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public schools...
, upheld intra-district busingBusing may refer to:* Busing, the use of road vehicle designed to carry passengers* Desegregation busing in the United States* John Busing , American football strong safety...
to desegregate public schools. However, this issue was contested in the courts for three more decades. In the most recent related cases, the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2002 refused to review Cappachione v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education and Belk v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, in which lower courts had ruled in favor of the school district.
- 1971: Haines v. Kerner, upheld the right of prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
ers to challenge prison conditions in federal court.
- 1971: Groppi v. Wisconsin, upheld the right of a criminal defendant in a misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
case to a venue where jurors are not biased against him.
- 1971: Clay v. United States
Clay v. United States, , was boxer Muhammad Ali's appeal of his conviction for refusing to report for induction into the United States military forces during the Vietnam War. His local draft board had rejected his application for conscientious objector classification...
, struck down Muhammad Ali's conviction for refusing to report for military service.
- 1971: Griggs v. Duke Power Company, ruled that tests for employment or promotion that produce different outcomes for blacks and whites are prima facie
Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning on its first encounter, first blush, or at first sight. The literal translation would be "at first face", from the feminine form of primus and facies , both in the ablative case. It is used in modern legal English to signify that on first examination, a...
to be presumed discriminatory, and must measure aptitudeAn aptitude is an innate component of a competency to do a certain kind of work at a certain level. Aptitudes may be physical or mental...
for the job in question or they cannot be used.http://finduslaw.com/civil_rights_act_of_1964_cra_title_vii_equal_employment_opportunities_42_us_code_chapter_21
- 1971: Phillips v. Martin Marietta, ruled that employers may not refuse to hire women with pre-school-aged children unless the same standards are applied to men.
- 1972: Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
, ruled that the death penalty as then applied in 37 states violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishmentCruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...
because there were inadequate standards to guide judges and juries making the decision which defendants will receive a sentence of death. However, under revised laws, U.S. executions resumed in 1977.
- 1972: Wright v. Council of the City of Emporia and U.S. v. Scotland Neck City Board of Education, ruled against systems' avoiding public school desegregation by the creation of all-white "splinter districts".
- 1972: Alexander v. Louisiana, accepted the use of statistical
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
evidence to prove racial discrimination in the selection of juries.
- 1972: Hawkins v. Town of Shaw, banned discrimination in the provision of municipal facilities.
- 1973: Norwood v. Harrison
Norwood v. Harrison, 413 U.S. 455 , is a United States Supreme Court decision in the area of constitutional law which the court held that a state cannot provide aid to a private school which discriminates on the basis of race...
banned government provision of school books to segregated private schools established to allow whites to avoid public school desegregation.
- 1973: Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, addressed deliberate de facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
school segregation, ruling that where deliberate segregation was shown to have affected a substantial part of a school system, the entire district must ordinarily be desegregated.
- 1973: Adams v. Richardson, required federal education officials to enforce Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which requires that state universities, public schools, and other institutions that receive federal money may not discriminate by race.
- 1973: Ham v. South Carolina, ruled that defendants are entitled to have potential jurors interrogated
Voir dire is a phrase in law which comes from the Anglo-Norman language. In origin it refers to an oath to tell the truth , i.e., to say what is true, what is objectively accurate or subjectively honest, or both....
about whether they harbor racial prejudices.
- 1973: McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, , was an early substantive ruling by the United States Supreme Court regarding the burdens and nature of proof in proving a Title VII case and the order in which plaintiffs and defendants present proof...
, ruled that courts should hear cases of alleged unlawful discrimination based on the "minimal showing" that a qualified non-white applied unsuccessfully for a job that either remained open or was filled by a white person.
- 1973: Mourning v. Family Publication Service, upheld the Truth in lending Act, requiring disclosure of the actual cost of a loan
A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower....
.
- 1975: Albemarle v. Moody, mandated back pay for victims of job discrimination.
- 1975: Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, , enacted April 9, 1866, is a federal law in the United States that was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African-Americans, in the wake of the American Civil War...
, passed during Reconstruction, as providing an independent remedy for employment discrimination.
- 1977: Coker v. Georgia
Coker v. Georgia, , held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution forbade the death penalty for the crime of rape of a woman.-Facts:...
, banned capital punishment for rapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, the most racially disproportionate application of the death penalty.
- 1977: United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburgh v. Carey, provided that states may consider race in drawing electoral districts if necessary to comply with the Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
by avoiding a dilution of minority voting strength.
1980s
- 1980: Luévano v. Campbell
Angel G. Luévano, et al., Plaintiffs v. Alan Campbell, Director, Office of Personnel Management, et al. also known as Luévano v. Campbell, [93 F.R.D. 68 ]Luévano v. Campbell began when Angel G...
, struck down Federal government use of a written test for hiring into nearly 200 entry-level positions because the test disproportionately disqualified African Americans and LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
s.
- 1980: Enmund v. Florida
Enmund v. Florida, , is a United States Supreme Court case was a 5-4 decision in which the United States Supreme Court applied its capital proportionality principle to set aside the death penalty for the driver of a getaway car in a robbery-murder of an elderly Florida couple.-Background:While...
, struck down a federal "felony murderThe rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when an offender kills accidentally or without specific intent to kill in the course of an applicable felony, what might have been manslaughter is escalated to murder...
" statute.
- 1982: Bob Jones University v. U.S. and Goldboro Christian Schools v. U.S., denied tax exempt status to religious schools that discriminate on the basis of race.
- 1983: Major v. Treen, overturned a Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
gerrymander intended to reduce African-American voting strength.
- 1984: Gingles v. Edmisten, continued as Thornburg v. Gingles
Thornburg v. Gingles was a lawsuit that reached the United States Supreme Court in 1985. A unanimous court found that "the legacy of official discrimination ... acted in concert with the multimember districting scheme to impair the ability of .....
(1986), ruled that at-large countywide election of state legislators illegally diluted black voting strength.
- 1988: Jiggets v. Housing Authority of City of Elizabeth: a district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
ordered the HUDThe United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
to spend $4 million to upgrade predominantly black, as well as predominantly white, housing projects in the city, and to implement federal maintenance, tenant selection and other procedures equitably.
- 1989: Cook v. Ochsner: in a belated coda to Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, a District Court approved a settlement ending a New Orleans
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
hospital's discrimination in emergency room treatment and patient admissions. The settlement also provided increased opportunities for African-American physicians to practice at the hospital.
1990s
- 1991: Chisom v. Roemer and Houston Lawyers Association v. Attorney General, established that Voting Rights Act applies to the election of judges.
- 1992: Matthews v. Coye and Thompson v. Raiford, compelled California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Texas, respectively, to enforce and implement federal regulations calling for testing of poor children for lead poisoningLead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems...
.
- 1993: Haynes v. Shoney's: A record court-approved settlement in an employment discrimination case. Shoney's
Shoney’s is a privately held restaurant chain that operates primarily in the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It is named after Alex Schoenbaum, who was the owner of the original chain of Big Boy restaurants in the southeastern United States...
Restaurants agreed to pay African-American employees $105 million and to implement aggressive equal employment opportunity measures.
- 1994: Lawson v. City of Los Angeles and Silva v. City of Los Angeles, led to settlements to end discriminatory use of police dogs in minority neighborhoods.
- 1995: McKennon v. Nashville Banner: The Supreme Court refused to allow employers to defeat otherwise valid claims of job discrimination by relying on facts they did not know until after the discriminatory decision had been made.
- 1996: Sheff v. O'Neill
Sheff v. O'Neill refers to a 1989 lawsuit and the subsequent 1996 Connecticut Supreme Court case that resulted in a landmark decision regarding civil rights and the right to education.-Timeline:...
: The Supreme Court of ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, in view of the disparities between HartfordHartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
public schools and schools in the surrounding counties, found the state liable for maintaining racial and ethnic isolation, and ordered the legislative and executive branches to propose a remedy.
- 1997: Robinson v. Shell Oil Company
In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court in a unanimous decision ruled that under Federal law, U.S. employers must not write bad job references, or otherwise retaliate against former employees as a punishment for filing job discrimination complaints. The case involved a former Shell employee, Charles T....
, determined that a former employee may sue his ex-employer for retaliating against him (by giving a bad job reference) after he filed discrimination charges over his termination.
- 1998: Wright v. Universal Maritime Service Corp., determined that a general arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
clause in a collective bargainingCollective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
agreement did not deprive an employee of his right to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws in federal court.
- 1999: Campaign to Save Our Public Hospitals v. Giuliani, barred New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
mayor Rudolph Giuliani's attempt to privatizePrivatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
public hospitals.
2000s
- 2000: Rideau v. Louisiana, threw out the 28-year-old, third conviction of Wilbert Rideau
Wilbert Rideau is a former death row inmate in Louisiana, as well as an author and award-winning prison journalist. Rideau was initially convicted of murder and served time in the Louisiana State Penitentiary...
for murder because of discrimination in the composition of the Grand Jury that originally indicted him more than 40 years earlier. ( he is still facing a fourth trial).
- 2000: Smith v. United States
Smith v. United States, , is a United States Supreme Court case that held that the exchange of a gun for drugs constituted "use" of the firearm for purposes of a federal statute imposing penalties for "use" of a firearm "during and in relation to" a drug trafficking crime.In Watson v. United...
, was resolved when President ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
commutedCommutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...
the sentence of Kemba SmithThe Kemba Smith Foundation is an American charitable organization which aims to raise awareness of certain social issues, including drug abuse, violence, AIDS, teenage pregnancy, and abuse. It was founded by Kemba Smith, who was convicted of a federal crime related to crack cocaine possession and...
. Smith was a young African-American mother whose abusive, domineering boyfriend led her to play a peripheral role (she did not sell drugs but was aware of the selling) in a conspiracy to obtain and distribute crack cocaine. She had been sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 24½ years in prison even though she was a first-time offender.
- 2000: Cromartie v. Hunt and Daly v. Hunt, ruled that it is legal to create, for partisan political reasons, a district with a high concentration of minority voters; hence the North Carolina district from which Mel Watt
Melvin Luther Watt is the United States House of Representatives for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
was elected to the House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
was ruled not to be an illegal gerrymander.
- 2003: Gratz v. Bollinger
Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 , was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the University of Michigan undergraduate affirmative action admissions policy...
, ordered the University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
to change admission policies by removing racial quotas in the form of "points", but allowed them to continue to utilize race as a factor in admissions, to admit a diverse entering class of students.
- 2007: Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education
Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education is a case heard before the United States Supreme Court in December 2006 regarding racial quotas and explicit racial desegregation in public education. The U.S. Supreme Court handed down an opinion on June 28, 2007, rejecting the use of a student's...
, the Supreme Court ruled racial quotas unconstitutional, but allowed other remedial integration programs to continue
- 2009: Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder
Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder, 557 U.S. ___ , was a decision of the United States Supreme Court regarding Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and in particular its requirement that proposed electoral-law changes in certain states must first receive pre-clearance from...
, the Supreme Court ruled the Voting Rights Act Section 5 preclearance process constitutional.
- 2010: Lewis v. City of Chicago, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the City of Chicago can be held accountable for each and every time it used a hiring practice that arbitrarily blocked qualified minority applicants from employment.
Prominent LDF Attorneys
A number of preeminent attorneys have been affiliated with LDF over the years, including President
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
who was an LDF cooperating attorney. The following, non-exhaustive list of LDF alumni demonstrates the breadth of positions these attorneys have held or currently hold in public service, the government, academia, the private sector, and other areas.
- Derrick A. Bell, Jr.
Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. was the first tenured African-American professor of Law at Harvard University, and largely credited as the originator of Critical Race Theory. He was the former dean of the University of Oregon School of Law.- Education and early career :Born in the Hill District of...
, the first tenured African-American Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
professorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and preeminent Critical Race TheoristCritical Race Theory is an academic discipline focused upon the intersection of race, law and power.Although no set of canonical doctrines or methodologies defines CRT, the movement is loosely unified by two common areas of inquiry...
.
- Jacqueline A. Berrien, the current chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an independent federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence,...
, installed by President Obama through a recess appointment. Immediately prior to her appointment, she was the Director of Litigation and Associate Director-Counsel for LDF.
- Robert L. Carter
Robert Lee Carter is a U.S. civil rights activist and judge.-Personal history and early life:Robert Lee Carter was born on March 11, 1917, in Careyville, Florida. While still very young, his mother moved north to Newark, New Jersey, where he was raised...
, an assistant counsel at LDF until its 1956 separation from the NAACP, and an architect of Brown v. Board. After the separation, he replaced Thurgood Marshall as the General Counsel for the NAACP. He won numerous cases at the Supreme Court.
- Julius L. Chambers
Julius LeVonne Chambers is an American lawyer, civil rights leader, and educator.-Early life:Julius Chambers grew up during the Jim Crow era in rural Montgomery County, North Carolina...
, third director-counsel of LDF and current director of the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights.
- Drew S. Days, III
Drew Saunders Days III an American lawyer, served as United States Solicitor General from 1993 to 1996 under President Bill Clinton. He also served as the first African American Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the Carter Administration from 1977 to 1980.He is the Alfred M...
, the first African-American Assistant Attorney GeneralMany of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General.The President of the United States appoints individuals to the position of Assistant Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate...
for the Civil Rights DivisionThe U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The Division was established on December 9, 1957, by...
. United States Solicitor GeneralThe United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
from 1993 to 1996.
- Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for the rights of children. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.-Early years:...
, founder of the Children's Defense FundThe Children's Defense Fund is an American child advocacy and research group, founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. Its motto Leave No Child Behind reflects its mission to advocate on behalf of children...
. During the Mississippi Freedom Summer she headed LDF's Jackson, MississippiJackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
office and handled more than 120 cases.
- Jack Greenberg
Jack Greenberg may refer to:* Jack Greenberg , American civil-rights figure* Jack M. Greenberg, executive...
succeeded Thurgood Marshall and served as LDF's second director-counsel from 1961 to 1984. Greenberg began as an Assistant Counsel at the Fund in 1949. He argued more than 40 of LDF's cases before the Supreme Court, including a portion of Brown v. Board. While he was director-counsel, LDF successfully defended the civil rights movement, ended "all deliberate speed" in desegregation, won the first employment discrimination lawsuits in the Supreme Court, and brought about a national moratorium on the death penalty. Greenberg is currently a Professor at Columbia Law School and the former Dean of Columbia CollegeColumbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
.
- Lani Guinier
Lani Guinier is an American lawyer, scholar and civil rights activist. The first African-American woman tenured professor at Harvard Law School, Guinier's work includes professional responsibilities of public lawyers, the relationship between democracy and the law, the role of race and gender in...
, voting rights advocate and the first African-American woman tenured professor at Harvard Law.
- Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
, the first African-American United States Attorney GeneralThe United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
. Holder clerked for LDF as a law student.
- Elaine Jones
Elaine R. Jones is a prominent civil rights attorney and activist. She joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1970 and in 1993 became the organization's first female director-counsel and president.-Early life and education:...
, successfully argued Furman v. Georgia. LDF's fourth director-counsel and the first female director-counsel.
- Pamela S. Karlan
Pamela Susan Karlan is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and a leading liberal legal scholar on voting rights and the political process.- Early life and education :...
, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law at Stanford Law School. She is frequently mentioned as a potential democratic appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- David E. Kendall, a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP, he represented President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
during the President's impeachment proceedingsBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
. He is a former LDF staff attorney and currently a member of its Board of Directors.
- Bill Lann Lee
Bill Lann Lee is a Chinese American civil rights lawyer who served as Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under President Bill Clinton....
, the first Chinese-American Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
- Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
, LDF founder and the first African-American Supreme Court JusticeAssociate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
. Marshall left LDF in 1961 to become a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit before going on to become Solicitor General of the United States and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
- Constance Baker Motley
Constance Baker Motley was an African American civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, state senator, and President of Manhattan, New York City.-Early Life and Academics:...
, the first African-American woman to be appointed a Federal Court JudgeThe United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
and the first to argue before the Supreme Court .
- James Nabrit
James Nabrit III is an African American civil rights attorney who won several important decisions before the U.S. Supreme Court.Nabrit III was born in Texas to James Nabrit, Jr., a prominent civil rights attorney, law professor and later President of Howard University. James Nabrit III graduated...
, helped to successfully argue Brown v. Board and was an LDF attorney from 1959–1989.
- Deval Patrick
Deval Laurdine Patrick is the 71st and current Governor of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, Patrick served as an Assistant United States Attorney General under President Bill Clinton...
, the first African-American Governor of MassachusettsThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
and only the second African American to be elected governor of any state.
- Constance L. Rice
Constance L. “Connie” Rice is a prominent American civil rights activist and lawyer. She is also the co-founder and co-director of the Advancement Project in Los Angeles. She has received more than 50 major awards for her work in expanding opportunity and advancing multi-racial democracy...
, civil rights attorney and activist.
- Spottswood William Robinson III
Spottswood William Robinson III was an educator, civil rights attorney and judge.In the early 1950s, Robinson and his law-partner Oliver Hill litigated several civil rights lawsuits in Virginia. In 1951, Robinson and Hill took up the cause of the African American students at the segregated R.R...
, the first African-American appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
.
Further reading
- Greenberg, Jack "Crusaders in the Courts: Legal Battles of the Civil Rights Movement" (2004)
- Hooks, Benjamin L. "Birth and Separation of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund," Crisis 1979 86(6): 218-220. 0011-1422
- Mosnier, L. Joseph. Crafting Law in the Second Reconstruction: Julius Chambers, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Title VII. (2005).
- Tauber, Steven C. "The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the U.S. Supreme Court's Racial Discrimination Decision Making," Social Science Quarterly 1999 80(2): 325-340.
- Tauber, Steven C. "On Behalf of the Condemned? The Impact of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Capital Punishment Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals," Political Research Quarterly 1998 51(1): 191-219.
- Tushnet, Mark V. Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1936-1961 (1994)
- Ware, Gilbert. "The NAACP-Inc. Fund Alliance: Its Strategy, Power, and Destruction," Journal of Negro Education 1994 63(3): 323-335. in JSTOR
External links
- NAACP-LDF Official Website, http://www.naacpldf.org/
- The Defenders Online, LDF's official online blog, http://thedefendersonline.org/