Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting in particular the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities. The Lawyers’ Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar’s leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity – work that continues to be vital today.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is dedicated to supporting and advancing diversity within its workforce and board. Because our commitment to diversity and inclusion is inextricably linked to our pursuit of equal justice for all, we strive to work with a broad and diverse coalition of partner organizations.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law utilizes litigation as an important tool for advancing the cause of justice.

Since 1965, the Lawyers’ Committee has been at the forefront of the legal struggle to advance and protect the right to vote and to ensure that the right is afforded equally to all. Through coordinated and integrated programs of litigation, voter protection, advocacy, and education, the Voting Rights Project has had a tremendous positive impact on communities of color, low-income communities, youth, people with disabilities, and other traditionally disenfranchised populations.

The Criminal Justice Project (CJP) seeks to end mass incarceration and make the ideal of “equal justice under law” a reality, particularly for marginalized communities that are disproportionately minority and poor. Through impact litigation, amicus curiae practice, public education, and policy advocacy; we are working to challenge the criminalization of poverty and end institutional practices that contribute to mass incarceration.

The Economic Justice Project (EJP), seeks to address persisting inequality and high poverty rates faced by African American and other minority communities. EJP brings challenges to all forms of racial, national origin, and sex-based discrimination in the workplace, both private and public, including discrimination by federal, state, and local agencies. EJP also brings litigation seeking to lift the employment barriers faced by individuals with criminal histories who are seeking to reintegrate into their communities. EJP litigates class action lawsuits, with the crucial assistance of law firms, on behalf of minorities and women. EJP works with government officials and Congress to promote reforms that can reduce poverty and expand access to economic opportunity to underserved communities.

The mission of the Fair Housing & Community Development Project (FHCD) is to fight discrimination in housing through enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and to promote greater opportunity for low income people of color by ensuring that development is equitable and inclusive and low-income people of color have access to crucial resources and meaningful housing choice.

Hate incidents across the United States are surging, devastating individuals and entire communities. Hundreds of organizations in communities across the country work to combat hate every day. To help combat this increase and support those organizations, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law launched the Stop Hate Project. The Stop Hate Project seeks to strengthen the capacity of community leaders, law enforcement, and organizations around the country to combat hate by connecting these groups with established legal and social services resources. Please visit 8449nohate.

The Lawyers' Committee works both inside and outside the courtroom to confront the most pressing problems that we face in America today when it comes to racism, discrimination, inequality, and injustice. Our staff is comprised of a dynamic staff of lawyers, organizers, and support staff, who work together have had a tremendous positive impact on communities of color, low-income communities, youth, people with disabilities, and other traditionally disenfranchised populations.

There are few organizations that have conducted more civil rights litigation than the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in the last several years. We are the country's leading national civil rights legal organization. We are focused on strengthening democracy, confronting hate, promoting a fairer criminal justice system and policing reform, ensuring access to equal educational opportunity and fair housing. and more.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed numerous strategic lawsuits and celebrated several wins that illustrate our national impact. Key highlights include our:

* 2021 ongoing efforts to confront the challenges presented by COVID-19, particularly given its disproportionate impact on African American communities

* Leading national, non-partisan Election Protection program and 866-OUR-VOTE hotline

* October 2019 victory in a lawsuit challenging affirmative action at Harvard University. The 1st Circuit recently sustained the district court's ruling. The organization recently completed trial in a parallel case challenging affirmative action at the University of North Carolina and recently intervened in another case involving the University of Texas, Austin.

* 2018 suit challenging the unconstitutional jailing of poor defendants in White County, Arkansas. This suit contributes to our Criminal Justice Project’s growing body of work to make tangible progress toward ending indigent incarceration and the criminalization of poverty.

* Spring 2019 victory on behalf of the City of San Jose and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration against the Secretary of the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau to enjoin the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census questionnaire.

* March 2018 suit filed with the National Women’s Law Center, seeking the disclosure of documents related to the Office of Management and Budget’s sudden and largely unexplained decision to halt the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s pay data collection rule to uncover pay gaps and promote pay equality. The collection of pay data from employers has historically helped to identify and eliminate pay discrimination through increased transparency and reporting.

* December 2017 win in our challenge to a debtors’ prison scheme run by the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court (OPCDC) that fails to consider an indigent individual’s ability to pay court debts before jailing them. The ruling connects the OPCDC debtors’ prison scheme with its own pressing need to generate money and holds that any jailing of poor individuals without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard on their ability to pay violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

* Multiple wins through emergency litigation during the election season secured extended voting hours and increased opportunities to participate in the political process for voters whose opportunities to register and vote were curtailed.