Meet the Lawyers' Committee's New Exec Director
As America approaches its first presidential election since the Supreme Court invalidated parts of the the Voting Rights Act, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law welcomes a new executive director. We spoke to Kristen Clarke on Monday about her vision for the Lawyers' Committee, a 53-year-old civil rights nonprofit created at the request of President Kennedy.
"The Lawyers' Committee has historically played such a significant role in working to achieve compliance with civil rights laws, and we know that work remains as necessary today as it was when the organization came about." Particularly important, she tells us, is the organization's work to promote criminal justice reform, combat employment and housing discrimination, promote equal educational opportunities, and ensure that all Americans have equal access to the ballot box.
Kristen became president and executive director last week, taking over from Barbara Arnwine, who after 26 years moved on to found and head the Transformative Justice Coalition. Kristen's career has been grounded in civil rights work: working in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, coordinating voting rights and prosecuting police misconduct as an NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund program director, and most recently, heading the Civil Rights Bureau at the New York Attorney General’s Office.
Kristen points out that on the day of the Supreme Court's Shelby County ruling, Texas was one of the first states to announce it was moving forward with a photo ID law, one that had previously been blocked by the Section 5 pre-clearance provision of the Voting Rights Act. Since then, numerous states have moved to make access to voting more difficult with measures such as restrictive voter ID rules, curtailing early voting hours and eliminating same-day registration opportunities.
The Lawyers' Committee oversees Election Protection, the country's largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition. "We'll be on the front lines working to counter the barriers before Election Day" and working to protect the right to vote during the election season, with hotlines and field programs, legal pro bono assistance, litigation and advocacy, and voter education. Pro bono support from hundreds of lawyers around the country amplifies the Lawyers' Committee's work, Kristen says.
Another priority for the Lawyers' Committee is the issue of mass incarceration, Kristen tells us. The United States is home to 5% of the world's population, yet houses more than 20% of the world's prisoners. The Lawyers' Committee will be addressing barriers to re-entry for people with criminal backgrounds. That includes working to ensure that people coming out of jails and prisons are able to access jobs, housing, schools and the ballot box. Otherwise, the risk of recidivism is high.
"I have always been impressed by the role that civil rights lawyers have played in our democracy," Kristen says. Lawyers such as Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley have been at the forefront of critical cases that have helped to make this country a better place. "There's still so much important work we need to do to ensure equal opportunity and equal justice for everyone."
