In 2013, Ifill was invited back to the Legal Defense Fund – this time to lead the organization as its 7th Director-Counsel. Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Southern Poverty Law Center filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Jackson on behalf of three Mississippi residents, the League of Women Voters of Mississippi and the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP. The state court lawsuit was filed in Hinds County Chancery Court. from New York University School of Law in 1987. Washington, DC 20005 Robert James. It says Mississippi’s absentee voting law is confusing and could be applied inconsistently during the coronavirus pandemic. JACKSON, Miss. You've come to the right place. In that role, Ifill has increased the visibility and engagement of the organization in cutting edge and urgent civil rights issues, while maintaining the organization’s decades-long leadership fighting voter suppression, inequity in education, and racial discrimination in application of the death penalty. in English, and earned her J.D. People who have to work on Election Day when the polls are open also are allowed to vote absentee. Please note: The NAACP may provide legal information … She serves on the board of the National Women’s Law Center, the National Constitution Center and on the Advisory board for the Profiles in Courage Award. Visit our professional site ». You can help by doing your part, donate to help us fight racial injustice!

Two weeks ago, the American Civil Liberties Union and Mississippi Center for Justice filed a lawsuit asking a judge to clarify that voters concerned about COVID-19 can vote absentee for the November election. Mississippi Humanities Council's recent 'Ideas on Tap' focused on voters and the voting process, who does (or does not) vote and touched on increasing future voter engagement. ACLU and MCJ filed the lawsuit  in Hinds County Chancery Court seeking to ensure that absentee voting is more accessible to Mississippians during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The racial impact of these restrictions is undeniable given the demographics of the state and the disparate impact of the pandemic,” Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement.

The NVRA compliance demand was issued by Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, with assistance by its pro bono counsel, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP along with the Mississippi Center for Justice, and Carroll Rhodes, Esq., counsel for the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP. NAACP Alabama State ConferenceMailing AddressP.O. Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus. Reeves on voting: Plays down concerns about in-person classes and voting in Face the Nation interview. © Copyright 2020 NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Legislators tweaked the law this year with provisions that expire at the end of 2020. Are you a legal professional? At critical moments during national unrest following the killing of unarmed African Americans by law enforcement officers, Ifill’s voice and vision framed the issue of policing reform and urban deprivation with powerful clarity in media appearances and public discussions. For the NAACP lawyers to take the case, the person bringing the claim should have faced racial discrimination. In 1993 Ifill left LDF to join the faculty at University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. Sherrilyn Ifill is the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. for legal advice. She serves on the board of the Learning Policy Institute and on the Advisory Board for the Profiles in Courage Award. Her 2007 book “On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century,” was highly acclaimed, and is credited with laying the foundation for contemporary conversations about lynching and reconciliation. The organization can trace its origins to the legal department of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that was created by Charles Hamilton Houston in the 1930s. Please select a city, county, or metro to find local Mississippi Civil Rights lawyers. It asks a judge to issue a statewide declaration that would allow absentee voting by people with health conditions that could put them in extra danger because of the highly contagious virus. This position is in conflict with Section 8 of the NVRA because that law prohibits states from requiring citizens to register more than thirty days prior to any election for federal offices – including runoff elections. mississippi naacp history The first branch in Mississippi was chartered in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1918 and re-charted on April 8, 1940. Contact Jimmie E. Gates at 601-961-7212 or jgates@gannett.com. Would-be voters in Mississippi were denied a full and fair opportunity to register and vote as required under the NVRA,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Watson and Fitch couldn't be reached late Thursday for comment. “Mississippi has some of the most restrictive burdens on absentee voting in the nation that run afoul of the constitution and have a particularly stark impact on Black voters,” said Jennifer Nwachukwu, attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act requires states to ensure that any person can vote in an election for a federal office if he or she registers to vote at least 30 days before that election. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter. The NAACP Legal Department maintains an active docket of Civil Rights cases, frequently in conjunction with a team of cooperating lawyers around the nation. These lawyers work daily in the courts alongside the Legal Department to address Civil Rights violations and forge the way in the fight to prevent the erosion of Civil Rights law across our nation. “We commend the State of Mississippi for recognizing that federal law prohibits states from setting voter-registration deadlines more than 30 days prior to any election for federal office, including a runoff,” said Ryan Phair, a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth. She has received honorary doctorates from New York University, Bard College, Fordham Law School and CUNY Law School. “As always, we encourage all Mississippians to register and vote in every election.”. Ifill graduated from Vassar College in 1984 with a B.A. Get Directions. by Stanley Augustin | Jul 13, 2018 | Press Releases, 1500 K Street NW Suite 900 If you were the victim of police brutality,

Mississippi: Civil Rights Lawyers. A 10th anniversary edition of the book was recently released with a Foreword by Bryan Stevenson, the acclaimed lawyer and founder of the national lynching memorial in Montgomery, AL. Sherrilyn Ifill Sherrilyn Ifill is the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. Other examples of situations where there may be civil rights issues include, Please select a city, county, or metro to find local Mississippi Civil Rights lawyers. Those allow absentee voting by someone with a temporary or permanent disability that may include “a physician-imposed quarantine due to COVID-19” or by a person who is “caring for a dependent that is under a physician-imposed quarantine due to COVID-19.”. Most states allow any voter to cast an absentee ballot. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of three voters, the Mississippi League of Women Voters and the Mississippi Conference of the NAACP. One of the plaintiffs in the federal court lawsuit is the husband of a woman who is a plaintiff in the state court suit.