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{{Short description|Organization in New York, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use American English|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
| image               = [[File:NAACP LDF logo.png|frameless|class=skin-invert]]
| image_border        = 
| size                = 200px
| caption             = 
| abbreviation        = LDF
| formation           = {{start date and age|1940|2|12}}
| extinction          = 
| type                = Non-profit organization
| status              = 
| purpose             =
| headquarters        = 40 Rector Street, 5th floor [[New York City]], New York, 10006 U.S.
| location            = 
| region_served       = United States
| membership          = 
| language            = 
| leader_title        = President and Director-Counsel
| leader_name         = [[Janai Nelson]]
| leader_title2       = 
| leader_name2        = 
| main_organ          = 
| num_staff           = 
| num_volunteers      = 
| budget              = 
| website             = [http://www.naacpldf.org www.naacpldf.org]
| remarks             = 
}}

The '''NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.''' ('''NAACP LDF''', the '''Legal Defense Fund''', or '''LDF''') is an American [[civil rights]] organization and law firm based in [[New York City]].

LDF is wholly independent and separate from the [[NAACP]].<ref name="LDFHistory">{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/history/|title=Transformative History of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-03}}</ref> Although LDF can trace its origins to the legal department of the NAACP created by [[Charles Hamilton Houston]] in the 1930s,<ref name=LDF@70>{{Cite web| title = LDF@70: 70 Years of Fulfilling the Promise of Equality | access-date = 2010-11-19| url = http://naacpldf.org/files/publications/ldf@70_0.pdf}}</ref><ref name=NAACPvLDF>{{Cite web| title = NAACP v. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 753 F.2d 131 (D.C. Circuit 1985)| access-date = 2010-11-19| url = http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/753/753.F2d.131.83-1719.html}}</ref> [[Thurgood Marshall]] founded LDF as a separate legal entity in 1940, which became totally independent from the NAACP in 1957.<ref name="LDFHistory"/>

[[Janai Nelson]] serves as the eighth President and Director-Counsel, since March 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introducing LDF's New President and Director-Counsel: Janai Nelson |url=https://www.naacpldf.org/introducing-janai-nelson/ |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund |language=en-US}}</ref> Previous Director-Counsels include [[Sherrilyn Ifill]] (2012–2022), [[John Payton]] (2008–2012), Ted Shaw (2004–2008), [[Elaine Jones]] (1993–2004), [[Julius L. Chambers|Julius Levonne Chambers]] (1984–1993), [[Jack Greenberg]] (1961–1984), and founder [[Thurgood Marshall]] (1940–1961).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/history/|title=History |work=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Overview==

{{African American topics sidebar|right}}
While primarily focused on the civil rights of [[African American]]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, [[Hispanic and Latino 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."<ref name=LDFHistory/>

LDF's national office is in [[Manhattan]], with regional offices in [[Washington, D.C.]]  LDF has nearly two dozen staff [[lawyer]]s and hundreds of cooperating attorneys across the nation.<ref name=LDFHistory/>

===Areas of activity===
* [[Litigation]]
* Advocacy
* Educational outreach
* Policy research and monitoring legislation
* Coalition-building
* Provides [[scholarship]]s for exceptional African-American students.

===Areas of concern===
* [[Education]]
** [[Affirmative action]]
** [[Desegregation in the United States|Desegregation]]
* Political Participation
** [[Voting rights]]
** [[Felony disfranchisement]]
* Economic access
** [[Employment discrimination]]
** [[Environmental justice]]
** [[Fair housing]]
* [[Criminal justice]]
** Opposition to the [[death penalty]]
** [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]]
** [[Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Sixth Amendment]]

==Creation and separation from the NAACP==

The board of directors of the NAACP created the Legal Defense Fund in 1940 specifically for tax purposes.<ref name=fjc>{{Cite web
| title =    Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board and the Desegregation of New Orleans Schools |publisher=Federal Judicial Center|work=History of the Federal Judiciary | url = https://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_bush_bio_naacp.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140221175754/https://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_bush_bio_naacp.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2014-02-21}}</ref> In 1957, LDF was completely separated from the NAACP and given its own independent board and staff.<ref name="fjc" /> 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.<ref name="NAACPvLDF" /><ref name="Hooks 1979">Hooks (1979)</ref>

At times, this separation has created considerable confusion in the eyes and minds of the public.<ref name="Hooks 1979"/>  In the 1980s, the NAACP unsuccessfully sued LDF for trademark infringement.<ref name="NAACPvLDF" /> In its ruling rejecting the NAACP's lawsuit, the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit]] recognized that the "universal esteem in which the [NAACP] initials are held is due in significant measure to [LDF's] distinguished record as a civil rights litigator" and that the NAACP has "benefitted from the added luster given to the NAACP initials by the LDF's litigation successes."<ref name="NAACPvLDF" />

==Well-known cases==
Probably the most famous case in the history of LDF was ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', the [[landmark case]] in 1954 in which the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] explicitly outlawed ''[[de jure]]'' [[racial segregation]] of [[public education]] 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.]], among others.<ref name=LDFHistory/>

===1930s===

* '''1935''' ''[[Murray v. Pearson]]'', removed unconstitutional [[Racial segregation|color bar]] from the [[University of Maryland School of Law]] admission policy. (Managed by Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP before the formal foundation of LDF.)
* '''1938''': ''[[Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada]]'', 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]] and dropped though the settlement led to the removal of a 15 percent salary discrepancy between black and white teachers in the [[Louisville, Kentucky]] public schools (see [[NAACP in Kentucky]]).
* '''1940''': ''[[Alston v. School Board of City of Norfolk]]'', a federal court order that African-American [[Public school (government funded)|public school]] teachers be paid salaries equal to whites, regardless of [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Tarter|first1=Brent|title=Aline Elizabeth Black (1906–1974)|url=http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Black_Aline_Elizabeth_1906-1974|publisher=Encyclopedia Virginia|access-date=24 August 2015}}</ref>
* '''1940''': ''[[Chambers v. Florida]]'', overturned the convictions—based on coerced [[Confession (law)|confessions]]—of four young black defendants accused of murdering an elderly white man.
* '''1944''': ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'', a voting rights case in which the Supreme Court required [[Texas]] to allow African Americans to vote in [[Partisan primary|primary election]]s, formerly restricted to whites.
* '''1946''': ''[[Morgan v. Virginia]]'', [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregated]] seating on interstate buses.
* '''1947''': ''[[Patton v. Mississippi]]'', ruled against strategies that excluded African Americans from [[criminal law|criminal]] [[jury|juries]].
* '''1948''': ''[[Shelley v. Kraemer]]'', overturned [[racial discrimination|racially discriminatory]] [[real estate covenant]]s.
* '''1948''': ''[[Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla.]]'', reaffirmed and extended ''Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada'', ruling that [[Oklahoma]] could not bar an African-American student from its all-white [[law school]] 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]]'', 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]]'', 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]]'', explicitly outlawed ''de jure'' racial segregation of public education facilities.
* '''1956''': ''[[Jackson v. Rawdon]]'', required desegregation of Mansfield High School, outside Fort Worth, Texas; ''see also [[Mansfield school desegregation incident]]''.
* '''1956''': ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'', overturned segregation of city buses; ''see also [[Montgomery bus boycott]]''.
* '''1957''': ''[[Fikes v. Alabama]]'', a further ruling against forced confessions.
* '''1958''': ''[[Cooper v. Aaron]]'' barred [[Governor of Arkansas|Arkansas Governor]] [[Orval Faubus]] from interfering with the desegregation of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]]'s [[Little Rock Central High School|Central High School]]; ''see also [[Little Rock Nine]]''.

===1960s===

* '''1961''': ''[[Holmes v. Danner]]'', began the desegregation of the [[University of Georgia]].
* '''1962''': ''[[Meredith v. Fair]]'', won [[James Meredith]] admission to the [[University of Mississippi]].
* '''1963''': LDF attorneys defended Martin Luther King Jr. against [[contempt of court|contempt]] charges for demonstrating without a permit in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]. ''See [[Letter from Birmingham Jail]].''
* '''1963''': ''[[Watson v. City of Memphis]]'', ruled segregation of [[public park]]s unconstitutional.
* '''1963''': ''[[Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital]]'', ended segregation of [[hospital]]s that received Federal construction funds.
* '''1964''': ''[[Willis v. Pickrick Restaurant]]'', ruled against segregation in public facilities such as restaurants; [[Lester Maddox]] closed his restaurant rather than integrate.
* '''1964''': ''[[McLaughlin v. Florida]]'', ruled against [[anti-miscegenation laws]]. See also on this issue, ''Eilers v. Eilers'' (argued by [http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/NKAA/record.php?note_id=8 James A. Crumlin, Sr.]) – details in [[NAACP in Kentucky]].
* '''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]]s.
* '''1965''': ''[[Abernathy v. Alabama]]'' and ''[[Thomas v. Mississippi]]'', reversed state convictions of Alabama and Mississippi [[Freedom Rider]]s on the basis of ''[[Boynton v. Virginia]]''.
* '''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]]'', ruled that "freedom of choice" was an insufficient response to segregated schools.
* '''1967''': ''[[Loving v. Virginia]]'', ruled that state laws banning interracial marriage  ("[[anti-miscegenation laws]]") in Virginia and 15 other states were [[unconstitutional]] because they violated the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]].
* '''1968''': ''[[Newman v. Piggie Park]]'', established that prevailing [[plaintiff]]s in civil rights act cases are entitled to receive [[attorneys' fees]] from the losing [[defendant]].
* '''1969''': ''[[Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education]]'', ruled that 33 Mississippi school districts must desegregate "at once" thereby ending the era of foot-dragging in school desegregation permitted under the "all deliberate speed" doctrine of ''Brown v. Board of Education'' 
* '''1969''': ''[[Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham]]'', ruled against using the [[parade]] [[Protest permit|permit]]ting process as a means of suppressing [[First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States|First Amendment]] rights.
* '''1969''': ''[[Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham]]'', ruled that low-income [[public housing]] [[leasehold estate|tenants]] could not be summarily [[eviction|evicted]].
* '''1969''': ''[[Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp.]]'', required [[due process]] for the [[garnishment]] 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]]'s [[boxing]] 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]] that [[grand jury]] and [[school board]] membership be limited to owners of [[real property]].
* '''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]]'', upheld intra-district [[Desegregation busing in the United States|busing]] to desegregate public schools. However, this issue was contested in the courts for three more decades.  In the most recent {{As of|2004|lc=on}} 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]]ers to challenge prison conditions in federal court.
* '''1971''': ''[[Groppi v. Wisconsin]]'', upheld the right of a criminal defendant in a [[misdemeanor]] case to a venue where jurors are not biased against him.
* '''1971''': ''[[Clay v. United States]]'', 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]]'' to be presumed discriminatory, and must measure [[aptitude]] for the job in question or they cannot be used.
* '''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]]'', ruled that the death penalty as then applied in 37 states violated the [[Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States|Eighth Amendment]] prohibition of [[cruel and unusual punishment]] 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 [[statistics|statistical]] 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]]'' 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]]'' 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 [[voir dire|interrogated]] about whether they harbor racial prejudices.
* '''1973''': ''[[McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green]]'', 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]].
* '''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]], passed during [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], as providing an independent remedy for employment discrimination.
* '''1977''': ''[[Coker v. Georgia]]'', banned capital punishment for [[rape]], 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 of 1965]] by avoiding a dilution of minority voting strength.

===1980s===

* '''1980''': ''[[Luévano v. Campbell]]'', 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 [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]]s.
* '''1980''': ''[[Enmund v. Florida]]'', struck down a federal "[[felony murder]]" statute.
* '''1982''': ''[[Bob Jones University v. U.S.]]'' and ''[[Goldboro Christian Schools v. U.S.]]'',  denied [[tax exempt]] status to [[Parochial school|religious school]]s that discriminate on the basis of race.
* '''1983''': ''[[Major v. Treen]]'', overturned a [[Louisiana]] [[gerrymander]] intended to reduce African-American voting strength.
* '''1984''': ''[[Gingles v. Edmisten]]'', continued as ''[[Thornburg v. Gingles]]'' (1986), the Supreme Court ruled that at-large countywide election of state legislators illegally discriminated against black voters, and the Court established the standard for identifying "vote dilution" under the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act.
* '''1986''': ''[[Dillard v. Crenshaw County Commission]]'': a [[United States District Court|district court]] ordered over 180 of the local government bodies in counties, cities, and school boards in Alabama to change their methods of election because intentionally racially discriminatory state laws had made it extremely difficult for Black voters to elect their preferred candidates to local office.<ref>{{Citation |title=A Timeline of LDF's over 75-Year History of Defending Voting Rights in Alabama |url=https://www.naacpldf.org/files/our-work/Alabama-Timeline-2-Black-History-1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706054211/https://www.naacpldf.org/files/our-work/Alabama-Timeline-2-Black-History-1.pdf |archive-date=6 Jul 2020}}</ref>
* '''1987''': ''[[McClesky v. Kemp]]'': in a 5–4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Georgia's death penalty and held that statistical evidence showing pervasive racial bias in the administration of the death penalty was not sufficient to invalidate a death sentence.<ref name="naacpldf.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/|title=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-03}}</ref>
* '''1988''': ''[[Jiggets v. Housing Authority of City of Elizabeth]]'': a [[United States District Court|district court]] ordered the [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development|HUD]] 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, Louisiana|New Orleans]] 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===

* '''1990''': ''[[Missouri v. Jenkins#Background|Missouri v. Jenkins]]'', established that a federal court could order local tax increases to fund magnet schools as a part of a school desegregation order.
* '''1991''': ''[[Chisom v. Roemer]]'' and ''[[Houston Lawyers Association v. Attorney General]]'', established that Voting Rights Act applies to the election of judges.
* '''1991''': ''[[Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. Dowell]]'', established the standard for resolving longstanding school desegregation orders.
* '''1992''': ''[[Matthews v. Coye]]'' and ''[[Thompson v. Raiford]]'', compelled [[California]] and Texas, respectively, to enforce and implement federal regulations calling for testing of poor children for [[lead poisoning]].
* '''1993''': ''[[Shoney's#Racial discrimination|Haynes v. Shoney's]]'': A record court-approved settlement in an employment discrimination case. [[Shoney's]] Restaurants agreed to pay African-American employees, applicants, and white managers who resisted the practices, $105 million and to implement aggressive [[equal employment opportunity]] measures.<ref>...
*{{cite court|litigants=Haynes v. Shoney's|vol=803|reporter=F. Supp.|opinion=393|court=N.D. Fla.|date=March 12, 1992|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/803/393/2133142/|access-date=April 15, 2018 }}
*{{cite court|litigants=Haynes v. Shoney's |reporter=WL 19915 |court=N.D. Fla. |date=January 25, 1993 |url=https://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/EE-FL-0139-0002.pdf |access-date=April 15, 2018 }}
* {{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19250229/the_times/|title=Notice of proposed class action settlement and consent decree [legal advertisement]|date=November 25, 1992|work=The Times|access-date=April 15, 2018|publication-place=Munster, Indiana|page=C5|url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}}{{free access}}
*{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19249499/tallahassee_democrat/|title=Judge approves racial discrimination settlement|last=Kaczor|first=Bill|date=January 26, 1993|work=Tallahassee Democrat|access-date=April 15, 2018|page=7B|url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}}</ref> 
* '''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]]'': The [[Supreme Court of Connecticut]], in view of the disparities between [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]] public schools and schools in the surrounding suburbs, 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]]'', 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]] clause in a [[collective bargaining]] 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]] mayor [[Rudolph Giuliani]]'s attempt to [[privatization|privatize]] public hospitals.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Finder |first=Alan |date=1999-03-31 |title=Court Deals Blow to Giuliani's Hospital Privatization Plan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/31/nyregion/court-deals-blow-to-giuliani-s-hospital-privatization-plan.html |access-date=2025-01-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===2000s===

* '''2000''': ''[[Rideau v. Whitley]]'', the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit threw out the 28-year-old, third conviction of [[Wilbert Rideau]] for murder because of discrimination in the composition of the Grand Jury that originally indicted him more than 40 years earlier. (Rideau was retried, convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter, and released in 2005.)
* '''2000''': ''[[Smith v. United States (1993)|Smith v. United States]]'', was resolved when President [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] [[Commutation of sentence|commuted]] the sentence of [[Kemba Smith Foundation|Kemba Smith]].  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 {{frac|24|1|2}} 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]] was elected to the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] was ruled not to be an illegal gerrymander.
* '''2003''': ''[[Gratz v. Bollinger]]'', ordered 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''': ''[[Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1]]'', the Supreme Court ruled racial quotas unconstitutional in PK–12 school assignment, but allowed other remedial school integration programs to continue<ref>http://www.naacpldf.org/timeline.aspx, The official site provides a [[Adobe Flash|Flash]]-based history of the major cases taken on by LDF. This article has taken extensive portions of this page with the permission of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the copyright holder of that material.</ref>
* '''2009''': ''[[Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder]]'', the Supreme Court ruled the Voting Rights Act Section 5 preclearance process constitutional. LDF presented oral argument at the Supreme Court on behalf of a group of African-American voters.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://naacpldf.org/update/supreme-court-ruling-leaves-place-core-provision-voting-rights-act|title=Supreme Court Ruling Leaves in Place Core Provision of the Voting Rights Act |work=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|access-date=2018-10-25|language=en-US}}</ref>

===2010s===

* '''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. LDF presented oral argument in this case in the Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://naacpldf.org/update/naacp-legal-defense-fund-succeeds-defending-rights-6000-african-american-applicants-chicago-f |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127112107/http://naacpldf.org/update/naacp-legal-defense-fund-succeeds-defending-rights-6000-african-american-applicants-chicago-f |archive-date=2010-11-27 |title=NAACP Legal Defense Fund Succeeds in Defending Rights of 6,000 African-American Applicants for Chicago Firefighter Jobs {{!}} NAACP LDF}}</ref>
* '''2013''': ''[[Shelby County v. Holder]]'', the Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, ending the Section 5 preclearance regime. LDF presented oral argument and represented a group of African-American voters in the Supreme Court.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.naacpldf.org/case/shelby-county-alabama-v-holder|title=Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder |work=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|access-date=2018-10-25|language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''2013''': ''[[Fisher v. University of Texas (2013)|Fisher v. University of Texas]]'', the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of affirmative action, and remanded the case to the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]] for a second view. LDF represented the Black Student Alliance and the Black Ex-Students of Texas, Inc.<ref name="naacpldf.org"/>
* '''2014''': ''[[Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action]]'', the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Michigan's Proposal 2 voter initiative, which amended the state's constitution to make affirmative action illegal in public employment, public education or public contracting purposes. LDF represented the Plaintiffs challenging Proposal 2.<ref name="naacpldf.org"/>
* '''2016''': ''[[Fisher v. University of Texas (2016)|Fisher v. University of Texas II]]'', Following the remand to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the [[Fifth Circuit Four|Fifth Circuit]], the Supreme Court again upheld the constitutionality of affirmative action. LDF represented the Black Student Alliance and the Black Ex-Students of Texas, Inc. in oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals and in an amicus brief in the Supreme Court.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/update/u-s-supreme-court-ruling-reaffirms-importance-diversity-college-admissions/|title=U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Reaffirms the Importance of Diversity in College Admissions|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-03}}</ref>
* '''2016''': ''Veasey v. Abbott'', The [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]], sitting [[en banc]], held that Texas's 2011 voter photo identification law violated the Voting Rights Act and that there was sufficient evidence to find that the Texas Legislature might have passed the law for the purpose of discriminating against Black and Latino voters. LDF presented oral argument in the Fifth Circuit on behalf of Black students and the Texas League of Young Voters.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.naacpldf.org/update/ldf-applauds-fifth-circuit-court-appeals-en-banc-decision-finding-texas-voter-id-law-discrimi|title=LDF Applauds Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals En Banc Decision Finding Texas Voter ID Law Discriminatory |work=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|access-date=2018-10-25|language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''2017''': ''[[Buck v. Davis]]'', the Supreme Court reversed the death sentence of Mr. Duane Buck because Mr. Buck's trial attorney introduced evidence that suggested Mr. Buck was more likely to commit violent acts in the future because he is black. LDF represented and presented oral argument on Mr. Buck's behalf in the Supreme Court.<ref name="naacpldf.org"/>
* '''2018''': ''Stout v. Jefferson County Board of Education and Gardendale Board of Education'', The [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit]], blocked the [[Gardendale, Alabama|City of Gardendale's]] attempt to secede from the larger [[Jefferson County, Alabama|Jefferson County]] school system because Gardendale's purpose was to create a mostly white school system separate from the more racially diverse Jefferson County schools. LDF represents and presented oral arguments on behalf of Black students opposed to the separation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-applauds-fifth-circuit-court-of-appeals-en-banc-decision-finding-texas-voter-id-law-discriminatory/|title=LDF Applauds Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals En Banc Decision Finding Texas Voter ID Law Discriminatory|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-03}}</ref>

===2020s===

* '''2020''': ''LDF v. [[William Barr|Barr]]'', the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]] granted summary judgment to LDF and ruled that the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice violated multiple requirements of the [[Federal Advisory Committee Act]], halting the Commission's operations until it was brought into compliance with federal law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/ldf-v-barr/|title=LDF v. Barr|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2020-10-01}}</ref>
* '''2020''': ''Harding v. [[John Bel Edwards|Edwards]]'', in September 2020, the [[U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana]] granted a preliminary injunction that required Louisiana to extend the early voting period by three days and provided voters at highest risk of serious illness from [[COVID-19]] with the option to vote by mail in the November and December 2020 primary and general elections.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/harding-v-edwards/|title=Harding v. Ewards|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2022-05-04}}</ref>
* '''2020''': ''Thomas v. Andino'', in May 2020, the [[U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina]] granted a preliminary junction that prohibited South Carolina from enforcing its witness signature requirement for absentee voters in the June 2020 primary elections. The court found that forcing people to obtain the signature of a third-party witness on their absentee ballot would endanger their health and safety in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/thomas-v-andino/|title=Thomas v. Andino|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2020-10-01}}</ref>
* '''2020''': ''NAACP v. [[United States Postal Service]]'', the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the US Postal Service's widespread disruptions in mail delivery violated federal law and risked delaying the delivery of mail-in ballots — thereby causing voter disenfranchisement. On October 10, 2020, the court granted a preliminary injunction motion suspending service changes that had disrupted mail delivery. The court issued a series of additional orders leading up to the November 2020 General Election, which required the US Postal Service to take extraordinary measures to ensure the timely delivery of ballots and to provide daily updates about the delivery status of mail-in ballots. LDF represented the NAACP and individuals in the litigation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-files-agreement-requiring-usps-to-implement-key-measures-to-prioritize-and-expedite-ballot-delivery-in-georgia-runoff-election/|title=LDF Files Agreement Requiring USPS to Implement Key Measures to Prioritize and Expedite Ballot Delivery in Georgia Runoff Election|website=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2020-12-24}}</ref>
* '''2023''': ''[[Allen v. Milligan]]'', on June 8, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a preliminary injunction against the State of Alabama's 2021 congressional districts and ruled that Alabama's map is racially discriminatory in violation of Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act]]. The Supreme Court also upheld the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act in the redistricting context. LDF represented ''Milligan'' plaintiffs in the lower courts and presented oral argument on behalf of the ''Milligan'' appellees in the Supreme Court.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
* '''2024''': ''[[Allen v. Milligan#Related Cases#Louisiana#Congressional district case | Robinson v. Ardoin]]'', In June 2022, a federal court preliminary enjoined Louisiana’s congressional map and ordered the state to draw a map with two majority-Black districts. But the Supreme Court of the United States put this order on hold temporarily pending its decision in ''Milligan''. After the ''Milligan'' ruling, the Supreme Court returned the case to the lower courts, which ultimately gave the Louisiana legislature the chance to draw a map with a second majority-Black district. And, in January 2024, the Legislature responded by adopting a new VRA-compliant map. LDF represented the ''Robinson'' plaintiffs in the Supreme Court and lower courts.
* '''2024''': ''[[Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP]]'', on January 6, 2023, a three-judge district court ruled against the State of South Carolina’s 2021 congressional map and concluded that the map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and intentionally discriminatory in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Supreme Court took the case up on direct appeal and heard oral arguments on October 11, 2023. LDF represented the plaintiffs at trial and presented oral argument on their behalf in the Supreme Court.

==Prominent LDF alumni==
A number of prominent attorneys have been affiliated with LDF over the years, including [[Barack Obama]] who was an LDF cooperating attorney.<ref name=LDFHistory/>  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.
* [[Debo Adegbile]], former acting President-Director Counsel for LDF (2012–2013), argued twice in the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, and a current Commissioner for the [[United States Civil Rights Commission]].
* [[Derrick Bell|Derrick A. Bell Jr.]], the first tenured African-American [[Harvard Law School]] professor, professor at [[New York University School of Law]], and preeminent [[Critical Race Theory|Critical Race Theorist]].
* [[Victor Allen Bolden]], a federal judge in the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut]].
* [[Jacqueline A. Berrien]], chair of the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]], appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate on December 22, 2010. Immediately prior to her appointment, Ms. Berrien was the Director of Litigation and Associate Director-Counsel for LDF.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/12-23-10.cfm|title=U.S. Senate Confirms EEOC Chair, Two Commissioners and General Counsel|website=www.eeoc.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref>
* [[Jocelyn Benson]] is the [[Secretary of State of Michigan]]. She is also the former Dean of [[Wayne State University Law School]]. She was a summer legal intern at LDF.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-race-to-win-all-races/|title=The Most Important Midterm Race is One You Haven't Heard About|last=Shechet|first=Ellie|date=2018-11-02|website=Vice|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-03}}</ref>
* [[Robert L. Carter]], 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 and was a federal judge on the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]]  <ref>[http://www.brownat50.org/BrownBios/BioJudgeRbtCarter.html Robert L. Carter<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* [[Julius L. Chambers]], third director-counsel of LDF. He argued ''[[Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education]]'', which upheld the constitutionality of busing to achieve school desegregation.
* [[Kristen Clarke]], the former [[United States Assistant Attorney General|Assistant Attorney General]] for the [[United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division|Civil Rights Division]] since 2021 and former President of the [[Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law]]. She previously headed the Civil Rights bureau of the [[New York Attorney General]] [[Eric Schneiderman]]. 
* [[U. W. Clemon]], first African-American federal judge in Alabama, retired from the [[U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama]], and one of the first Black officials elected to the [[Alabama Senate]] in modern times.
* [[William Thaddeus Coleman Jr.]], President emeritus of LDF's board and Secretary of Transportation in the administration of President [[Gerald Ford]].
* [[Drew S. Days, III]], the first African-American Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the [[United States Solicitor General]] from 1993 to 1996.
* [[Marian Wright Edelman]], founder of the [[Children's Defense Fund]]. During the [[Mississippi Freedom Summer]] she headed LDF's [[Jackson, Mississippi]] office and handled more than 120 cases.<ref>[http://www.experiencefestival.com/mississippi_freedom_summer Mississippi Freedom Summer<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* [[Jean E. Fairfax]], organizer, educator; creator of the division of legal information and community service and director of that division from 1965 to 1984
* [[Jack Greenberg (lawyer)|Jack Greenberg]] succeeded Thurgood Marshall and served as LDF's second director-counsel from 1961 to 1984. Greenberg began as an Assistant Counsel at LDF 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<ref>[[Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education]], [[Green v. County School Board of New Kent County]]</ref> the first employment discrimination lawsuits in the Supreme Court, and brought about a national moratorium on the death penalty. After leaving the LDF, Greenberg was a professor at Columbia Law School and the former Dean of [[Columbia College of Columbia University|Columbia College]].
* [[Lani Guinier]], voting rights advocate and the first African-American woman tenured professor at Harvard Law.
* [[Vanita Gupta]], the [[Associate Attorney General of the United States]] since April 2021. She was formerly the President and Chief Executive Officer of the [[Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights]], and the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and acting head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice from October 2014 until January 2017.
* [[Dale Ho]], a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
* [[Eric Holder]], the first African-American [[United States Attorney General]]. Holder was a member of LDF's Board of Directors and interned for LDF as a law student.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803184.html 'Eric Holder In Profile,' Washington Post, November 18, 2008]</ref>
* [[Elaine Jones]], successfully argued ''Furman v. Georgia''. LDF's fourth director-counsel and the first female director-counsel.<ref>[http://www.tourolaw.edu/about/distinguished_visitors/public_interest_lawyer_in_residence/1997-elaine%20jones.asp 1997-Elaine Jones<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515203226/http://www.tourolaw.edu/about/distinguished_visitors/public_interest_lawyer_in_residence/1997-elaine%20jones.asp|date=2009-05-15}}</ref>
* [[Pamela S. Karlan]], Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice since January 2021 and the 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/k/pamela_s_karlan/index.html|title=The New York Times – Search|website=topics.nytimes.com|language=en|access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref>
* [[David E. Kendall]], a partner at [[Williams & Connolly LLP]], he represented President [[Bill Clinton]] during the President's [[Impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeachment proceedings]]. He is a former LDF staff attorney and currently a member of its board of directors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wc.com/dkendall|title=David Kendall – Williams & Connolly LLP|website=www.wc.com|language=en|access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref>
* [[Bill Lann Lee]], the first [[Chinese-American]] Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E6DC163FF931A25755C0A961958260|title=Asian-American Is Named To Top Civil Rights Position|last=Holmes|first=Steven A.|work=The New York Times |date=12 June 1997 |access-date=2018-10-25|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Thurgood Marshall]], LDF founder and the first African-American [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court Justice]].  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.
* [[Gabrielle Kirk McDonald]], a former federal judge of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas]] and a former judge of the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]]. McDonald was one of the first eleven judges elected by the [[United Nations]] to serve on the Yugoslav Tribunal and became its president between 1997 and 1999.
* [[Natasha C. Merle]], a federal judge for the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York]].
* [[Constance Baker Motley]], the first African-American woman to be appointed a [[United States federal courts|Federal Court Judge]] and the first to argue before the Supreme Court.
* [[James Nabrit III]] was an LDF attorney from 1959–1989.
* [[Kellis Parker]], who became director of the LDF in 1977, was the first African-American professor at [[Columbia Law School]].
* Dennis Parker, the executive director of the [[National Center for Law and Economic Justice]]. He formerly was the Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the office of the [[New York Attorney General]] and, prior to that, worked for over a dozen years at LDF.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nclej.org/staff/dennis-parker|title = Dennis D. Parker - National Center for Law and Economic Justice| date=December 27, 2023 }}</ref>
* [[Deval Patrick]], the first African-American [[Governor of Massachusetts]] and only the second African American to be elected governor of any state.
* [[Cornelia Pillard]], a federal judge on the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit]].
* [[Reince Priebus]], served as [[White House Chief of Staff]] for [[United States President|President]] [[Donald Trump]] in 2017. He also served as the chairman of the [[Republican National Committee]] from 2011 to 2017. He interned for LDF as a law student.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/08/22/reince_priebus_the_least_interesting_man_in_the_world.html|title=Reince Priebus, The Least Interesting Man in the World|last=Weigel|first=David|date=2012-08-22|work=Slate|access-date=2018-10-25|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339}}</ref>
* [[Constance L. Rice]], civil rights activist and founder of the [[Advancement Project]].
* [[Spottswood William Robinson III]], the first African-American appointed to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]].
* Theodore Shaw, Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Professor Shaw served as the fifth president and director-counsel.<ref name="LDFHistory"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.law.unc.edu/faculty/directory/shawtheodorem/|title=Theodore M. Shaw|website=www.law.unc.edu|language=en-us|access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2008/march2008/shaw_named|title=LDF President Ted Shaw Joins Columbia Law Faculty|website=Columbia Law School|language=en|access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/Theodore_Shaw |title=Columbia Law School : Full Time Faculty : Theodore M. Shaw |publisher=Law.columbia.edu |date=1961-11-09 |access-date=2010-12-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728034242/http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/Theodore_Shaw |archive-date=2010-07-28 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://web.williams.edu/admin/news/releases/646/|title=NAACP's Theodore Shaw to Discuss "The Continuing Struggle for Racial Justice"|work=Office of Communications|access-date=2018-10-25|language=en-US}}</ref>
* Christina Swarns, the Executive Director of the [[Innocence Project]]. She previously served as the director of litigation for LDF and, in that role argued and won ''[[Buck v. Davis]]'' in the U.S. Supreme Court. She is one of the few African-American women to have ever argued a case in the Supreme Court.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://innocenceproject.org/team/christina-swarns/|title=Meet the people behind the Innocence Project}}</ref>
* [[Holly A. Thomas]], a federal judge on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]]. 
* [[Maya Wiley]], an MSNBC Legal Analyst, civil rights activist, lawyer, and [[2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary|2021 mayoral candidate for New York City]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://twitter.com/MSNBCPR/status/1034191324566757378|title=MSNBC Public Relations on Twitter|work=Twitter|access-date=2018-08-27|language=en}}</ref> and the Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Policy and Management at [[The New School]]. Wiley is also the former board chair<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/nyregion/ccrb-chairwoman-maya-wiley-resigns.html|title=Chairwoman Steps Down at New York City Police Oversight Agency|first=Benjamin|last=Mueller|newspaper=The New York Times|date=31 August 2017}}</ref> of the [[New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board]], and former counsel to the [[Mayor of New York City]], [[Bill de Blasio]].

==References==
  {{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Clemon, U. W., and Bryan K. Fair. "Making Bricks Without Straw: The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Development of Civil Rights Law in Alabama 1940-1980." ''Alabama Law Review''  52 (2000): 1121+. [https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1500&context=fac_articles online]

* 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
* King, Gilbert. ''Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America'' (2012) Pulitzer Prize; [https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Grove-Thurgood-Marshall-Groveland/dp/0061792268/ excerpt]

* Klinetobe, Charles. "Jury Trials and Gerrymanders: The Legal Effort to Maintain Segregation in July of 1957." ''The Historian'' 68.2 (2006): 221-240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6563.2006.00141.x
* 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. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2967184 in JSTOR]
* Watkins, Steve. ''The Black O: Racism and Redemption in an American Corporate Empire'' (2013) specific to the 1993 ''Haynes v. Shoney's'' case. [https://books.google.com/books?id=rfEAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA0 portions in Google Books]

==External links==
* [https://www.naacpldf.org/ NAACP-LDF Official Website]
* [https://tminstituteldf.org/ Thurgood Marshall Institute at LDF]

{{NAACP}}
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[[Category:1940 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:Civil rights movement organizations]]
[[Category:NAACP|Legal Defense and Educational Fund]]
[[Category:Legal advocacy organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1940]]