Fostering Participatory Democracy - Voting Rights

Protected two Congressional and two State Senatorial election districts on behalf of black citizens in Florida, when the U.S. Supreme Court approved a federal court decision against white voters who attacked the four districts the Lawyers’ Committee secured for clients in 1992 (Fouts v. Harris, Chandler v. Harris).

Won a new election plan for black voters in Montgomery County, Mississippi that allows our clients a fair opportunity to elect the County Superintendent of Education. Black voting strength was diluted by white voters in the Winona School District who were allowed to vote in the Montgomery elections even though their children were not under the County Superintendent’s jurisdiction (White v. Moore). This victory persuaded the Mississippi Legislature to enact a law prohibiting intra-district voting plans in school districts throughout the state.

Preserved voting districts for the election of County Commission and School Board members in Dooley County, Georgia, on behalf of black voters and the local NAACP, and against “reverse discrimination” attack (Sanders v. Dooley County, Georgia).

Prevailed in three cases in the U.S. Supreme Court that gave minority voters an opportunity to participate meaningfully in our nation’s democratic process: Young v. Fordice challenged a discriminatory dual registration system in Mississippi; Lawyer v. U.S. upheld a mediated settlement plan, which preserved a state senate district in Florida with a majority of Hispanic and African-American voters; and King v. State Board of Elections affirmed a lower court decision that approved the first Hispanic-majority congressional district in Illinois.

Advanced a nationwide effort to diversify court judgeships by securing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision which applied the Voting Rights Act to judicial elections (Clark v. Roemer).

Enhanced minority participation in the judicial process in Louisiana by securing fair redistricting plans that helped voters elect 21 new African-American state court judges, the single largest increase in any voting rights lawsuit (Clark v. Edwards).

Obtained a court decision for African American voters in Florida that struck down discriminatory at-large elections for trial court judges in several counties (Nipper v. Chiles).

Secured a decision for African American voters in Wilmington, Delaware who challenged at-large elections that limit black representation on the school board (Jenkins v. Red Clay Cons. School Dist. Board of Educ).

Helped secure passage of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires states to allow voter registration by mail, when applying for a driver’s license or at welfare, disability and military recruitment offices.

Building Healthy and Equitable Communities - Environmental Justice

Negotiated relocation of segregated public housing residents from a lead-contaminated Superfund site in Portsmouth, Virginia, where children played kick-ball on lead contaminated soil and lived in homes with heating vents laden with lead dust. Under EPA’s Superfund remedy, only private homeowners were relocated. EPA planned to leave our clients surrounded by soil cleaned only to industrial standards. Our clients’ victory marks the first time that a Superfund cleanup remedy has been changed to address racial discrimination in public housing located within an area of hazardous environmental contamination. The 160-unit complex was built as “Negro housing” 40 years ago by the federal government (Washington Park Lead Committee v. EPA).

Helped secure a landmark decision from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that ordered NRC staff to consider the socioeconomic impact of siting a uranium enrichment plant in two African-American communities in Homer, LA. The company withdrew its application to build and operate the nation’s first private uranium enrichment plant, sparing the two communities mountains of radioactive waste and the potential for hazardous accidents (In the Matter of Louisiana Energy Services).

Helped achieve a landmark victory for enivronmental justice when EPA agreed to relocate 358 families living around the Escambia Superfund site in Pensacola, Florida. Citizens of this African American community have been exposed to a deadly mix of pesticides, dioxin, arsenic, and lead, which had infiltrated their homes, playgrounds, and the air they breathed. The EPA agreed to relocate all of the community residents and to pay the fair market values for their homes (regardless of contamination) plus relocation costs.

Promoting Fair Employment - Employment Discrimination

Won court approval of a Consent Decree which ended discriminatory hiring practices of the New Jersey State Police, on behalf of black and Hispanic applicants. About 2,000 formerly rejected applicants have been invited to reapply under new standards (NAACP v. State of New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of State Police).

Helped secure a $1 billion settlement for black farmers that obligates the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remedy past discrimination in making loans to black farmers between 1981-1996. The government had settled the case without obligating the Agriculture Department to comply with the settlement. We worked closely with the National Black Farmers Ass’n, Inc., the North Carolina Ass’n of Black Lawyers, the Land Loss Prevention Project, and a volunteer law firm in appealing this case to secure court-ordered compliance (Pigford v. Glickman).

Obtained an appeals court ruling that allows our client to pursue her sexual harassment claims in federal court against Hooters of America, Inc., a national restaurant chain. Hooters required all employees to enter into an arbitration agreement, which the appellate and trial courts found to be a “sham .. deliberately calculated to advantage Hooters.” Hooters has discontinued using arbitration agreements (Phillips v Hooters of America, Inc.).

Negotiated a $2.5 million settlement on behalf of 141 African-American present and former employees of the Ona Corporation manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama. Our clients endured years of racial harassment by their co-workers, without effective action by the company (Dowdell v. Ona Corp.).

Helped 2,999 African Americans who faced discrimination in hiring, job assignments, and promotions at a textile company in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina by negotiating a $20 million settlement (Sledge v. Stephens & Co.).

Obtained a $2.7 million settlement in a class action on behalf of 97 African Americans who suffered racial harassment at the Miller Brewing Company’s brewery in Fulton, New York. White co-workers had used the Company’s public address system to hurl racial taunts and insults at black employees; spray painted racial epithats, death threats and cartoons of lynching on lockers and in restrooms; and hung a noose at the plant’s gates (Brewer v. Miller Brewing Company.)

Negotiated a consent decree on behalf of several thousand African American job applicants alleging discrimination in hiring for Deputy Sheriff positions in the Harris County Sheriff’s Department in Houston Texas (Connor v. Harris County).

Won court approval of a settlement requiring that the Jackson, Mississippi Fire Department develop new hiring and promotional examinations and, until the new exams were approved, to hire and promote minorities and women in accordance with their representation among applicants (Bell v. City of Jackson).

Improving Educational Opportunities

Helped thousands of minority and low-income public school children in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania by desegregating classrooms and fostering high quality educational offerings for students of all backgrounds as well as teacher training (Hoots v. Pennsylvania).

Negotiated on behalf of parents of African-American children attending schools in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and the local NAACP, and secured a settlement in a long- running school desegregation case that provides $300 million in state funding to implement positive reforms (Vaughns v. Prince George’s County, Maryland Board of Education).

Worked with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of minority parents in San Jose, California, and obtained an agreement whereby school officials will improve educational offerings for Hispanic students. The settlement dismantled a segregative tracking program which ill-prepared Hispanic students for meaningful employment and higher education (Vasquez v. San Jose School District).

Fostering Fair Housing Opportunities - Housing Discrimination

Obtained on behalf of 6,000 people a $3.4 million settlement and exposed a decade-old racial coding system that denied apartments to dark-skinned persons in Miami, Florida. This case led to, one of the largest settlements in a private fair housing case ever (Givens v. Hamlet Estates).

Secured in the face of blatant racism and fervent opposition, a consent decree that provides $28 million in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for desegregation and revitalization of seven African-American communities. We uncovered hundreds of archival materials revealing the role of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in establishing segregated public housing nationwide (Sanders v. HUD).

Negotiated a far-reaching consent decree for the Pine Street African-American community in Leesburg, Florida that promotes "desegregative housing choices and other economic opportunities," including formation of a community development corporation (CDC). Innovative tax increment financing ("TIF") will provide the CDC with an annual funding stream for the next thirty years (Tri-City Branch NAACP v. City of Leesburg).

Serving Communities - Assistance for Churches

Mobilized 30 private law firms on behalf of congregations of black churches destroyed in a wave of arson. Working with the National Council of Churches and the NAACP, the Committee has assisted a dozen churches in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New York, Texas, and Washington

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