Zenab Youssef
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L4GG Updates
Zenab Youssef
We Won’t Sit Silently in the Face of ...

Not enough people are talking about the water crisis in Jackson, MS. On Tuesday, the Mississippi governor declared a state of emergency for Jackson’s water system, the city’s largest treatment plant. Most of the city’s 150,000 residents are without running water, having to rely on bottled water for drinking, showering, brushing their teeth, and cooking.

We Won’t Sit Silently in the Face of Environmental Racism - Neither Should You
L4GG Updates
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L4GG Updates
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L4GG Publishes Joint Report with New Georgia ...

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), the nation’s largest community of attorneys committed to human rights and equal justice for all, and New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit voting rights and civic engagement organization in Georgia, today released a report on ‘ballot selfies’, or the practice of taking photos of oneself at the ballot box and/or with their ballots.

A ballot selfie is when a person takes a photo of themselves holding their marked ballot and usually uploads the photo to a social media account to show friends that they voted, and for whom they voted. Ballot selfies are a great way to promote voting and engage with one’s community, yet many states have laws that prohibit them. Advocacy organizations are concerned that laws prohibiting ballot selfies are tools of voter suppression, and another way to criminalize ordinary behavior.

Click here to download “Selfie-Defense Training: Understanding and Reforming Laws that Ban Photographing and Sharing Your Ballot”

The report found that ballot selfies are completely legal in 28 states, and illegal in 13 states. Five states have laws prohibiting ballot selfies at polling locations, but not when casting a mail-in or absentee ballot. Six states have laws governing ballot selfies that are unclear. The report calls for states to update their laws to explicitly allow voters the right to take a ballot selfie, and prevent voter fraud and bribery without curtailing free speech.

L4GG Publishes Joint Report with New Georgia Project on Ballot Selfies
L4GG Official Statements, L4GG Updates
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Ukrainians Receive Free Legal Help to Apply for ...
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Nominations

Statement on Nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to SCOTUS

Statement on Nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to SCOTUS

L4GG applauds the historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. If confirmed, Judge Jackson will serve as the first Black woman and the first former public defender on the nation’s highest court, bringing much-needed racial and professional diversity to the bench. We especially celebrate her professional experience ​​representing the most vulnerable members of our society and defending their constitutional rights, as well as her many years of experience as a judge prior to the nomination.

1400+ Lawyers from all 50 States, DC, & Puerto Rico Call on Senate to Confirm Vanita Gupta & Kristen Clarke

Today, L4GG the nation’s largest network of attorneys committed to upholding human rights and equal justice for all, submitted an open letter, signed by more than 1,400 attorneys representing 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to confirm Vanita Gupta for the position of Associate Attorney General, confirm Kristen Clarke for the position of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and to support other nominees who have experience leading the fight for civil rights. 

VIEW THE LETTER HERE:  https://l4gg.org/Support-Gupta-Clarke

The letter was sent ahead of Clarke’s nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, tomorrow, Wednesday April 14, and argues that Donald Trump’s administration worked to undermine civil and human rights on a number of different fronts, and to repair the damage done, the nation needs leaders at the Department of Justice who have experience fighting against injustice. After years of leading the fight for civil rights at two of the nation’s premier civil rights organizations, Gupta and Clarke are exactly the experienced leaders that our country needs. The letter also included signatures from more than 400 non-attorney advocates.

“The legal community is banding together at this moment to support the nominations of Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke because the future of our nation is at stake,” said Lawyers for Good Government’s president Traci Feit Love. “We call on every Senator who believes in equal justice under the law to help heal our country from the scourge of white supremacy by taking a stand for civil rights and voting to confirm Gupta and Clarke.”

“We applaud President Biden’s leadership in nominating these two civil rights experts to important positions at the Department of Justice,” said Lawyers for Good Government’s Vice President of Policy and Strategic Engagement Adam Fernandez. “I have worked with both Gupta and Clarke and am a civil rights attorney myself. Working in civil rights is about ensuring all people have equal access to justice regardless of their background. Gupta and Clarke’s dedication to civil rights and their expertise makes them uniquely qualified to lead the Department of Justice, and we hope they are the first of many nominees to positions across the Administration and the courts that share their credentials.”

Biden’s nominees a good first step toward achieving diversity on the federal bench, but more diversity is needed.

Biden’s nominees a good first step toward achieving diversity on the federal bench, but more diversity is needed.

We applaud, with reservation, the Biden Administration for nominating a diverse set of candidates for the federal judiciary. Almost every demographic group in the nation is underrepresented in the federal courts, and the Trump Administration widened that gap by disproportionately nominating white men to the judiciary. This led, among other things, to the re-segregation of courts like the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed, the Biden Administration’s nominees would do much to alleviate historic underrepresentation on the courts, by prioritizing the nominations of people of color, specifically African and Asian Americans.