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Welcome to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Newsroom. This page contains our press releases, news clips and blog posts.
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Police Accountability Efforts Sabotaged in Collapse of George Floyd Justice in Policing Act Negotiations
(Washington, D.C.) — Bipartisan negotiations for a compromise on police reform broke down Wednesday, officially ending talks on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The bill emphasized de-escalation tactics, bans police techniques like chokeholds and some...
Civil Rights Groups Call On Supreme Court to Strike Down Mississippi’s Attack on Roe v. Wade
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) —A Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks will have a devastating impact on women with low incomes and Black women, according to an amicus brief filed in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law,...
Tampa police target families of color with eviction through housing program
The Tampa Police Department works with landlords to evict tenants through a program that discriminates against tenants of color, in violation of federal law, according to a demand letter sent on Thursday by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the ACLU...
National Lawyers’ Committee Welcomes Five New Board Members from the Private Bar
(Washington, D.C.) – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law announced Thursday that Lillian S. Hardy of Hogan Lovells US LLP; David Herrington of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP; Andrew LeGrand of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Ragan Naresh of...
Texas’ SB 1 Discriminates Against Voters of Color
(Austin, Texas) — The Texas State Legislature’s SB 1 legislation violates provisions of the Texas Constitution that protect the right to vote, the right to freedom of speech and expression, the right to due process, and the right to equal protection under law,...
Banning Critical Race Theory and Anti-racism Education Harms Society
(Washington, D.C.) — Prohibiting critical race theory and anti-racism education in Texas schools would suppress educational efforts that are critically needed to confront and address racism and discrimination, according to a letter brief sent Thursday to Texas...
Incarcerated Individuals in Virginia Must Be Counted in their Home Communities, Not Where They are Being Held
(Washington, DC) - Counting incarcerated individuals at their carceral address rather than their home address unjustly shifts political power from communities of color to white, rural communities where prisons are disproportionately located and further entrenches...
Texas Abortion Ban in Effect Following SCOTUS Inaction Challenges Federal Reproductive Rights
(Washington, D.C.) — A highly restrictive and blatantly unconstitutional Texas law that bans abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy went into effect Wednesday after the United States Supreme Court failed to rule on a pending emergency application brought by...
Attorney General Garland Calls on Legal Community to Help Confront Housing and Eviction Crisis
(Washington, D.C.) —Attorney General Merrick B. Garland called on the legal community to volunteer time and legal assistance to confront the ongoing housing and evictions crisis following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision striking down the federal eviction...
Hate Crimes Against Black and Asian People Rise Sharply
(Washington, D.C.) – The FBI reported Monday that the number of hate crimes in the United States rose to the highest level in 12 years, driven by assaults targeting Black and Asian people. This rise in hate crimes occurred in a year of renewed protests for racial...
Supreme Court Ends Pandemic Eviction Moratorium
(Washington, D.C.) —The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court decision halting a pandemic-related federal eviction moratorium implemented and enforced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Upward of 1.2 million households are expected to...
Capitol Police Officers File Civil Rights Lawsuit to Hold Trump, Militant Groups Accountable for Jan. 6 Capitol Attack
(Washington, D.C.) — Then-President Trump, following his loss in the 2020 presidential election, worked with white supremacists, violent extremist groups, and campaign supporters to violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, and commit acts of domestic terrorism in an unlawful...
House of Representatives Passes John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
(Washington, D.C.) — The U.S. House of Representatives passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act Tuesday. The legislation will revive a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, which was immobilized in the disastrous 2013 U.S. Supreme Court Shelby County v....
FCC Levies $5 Million Fine, Affirms Civil Rights Protections Against Voter Suppression Robocalls
(Washington, D.C.) — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a $5 million fine against Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, two individuals who made 85,000 robocalls targeting Black Americans in the lead-up to Election 2020 in an attempt to scare and...
House of Representatives Introduces the Voting Rights Advancement Act
(Washington, D.C.) — Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) introduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, transformative legislation that will restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act and help an untold...