Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was founded in 1963 at the request of John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s private bar to support the civil rights movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee strives to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. They strategically pursue high-impact litigation and legal advocacy to set important legal precedents and directly benefit communities. In the face of unprecedented rollbacks to civil rights across the country, the Lawyers’ Committee is advancing novel, creative, and masterful legal and policy arguments for criminal, digital, and economic justice, equitable educational opportunities, fair housing, and voting rights. The Lawyers’ Committee also convenes the national, nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition, which administers the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline. They are not only defending hard-won civil rights victories; they are also championing an affirmative vision for a just and equitable future.
THE CASE
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The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, together with the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the NAACP Louisiana State Conference, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and Voice of the Experienced, filed League of Women Voters of Louisiana v. Landry et al. challenging Louisiana’s S.B. 436. This 2024 law requires documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, despite the lack of any evidence that noncitizen voting is a problem. The law imposes steep financial and bureaucratic barriers on millions of eligible voters, particularly low-income citizens, women who have changed their names, and others who lack ready access to documents like birth certificates or passports. They argue that S.B. 436 violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the U.S. Constitution by disenfranchising citizens while doing nothing to advance election integrity.
Filed in May 2025, the case seeks to block Louisiana from enforcing these requirements and to establish legal precedent that will deter other states from adopting similar measures. This litigation enforces the NVRA, which bans needlessly burdensome proof-of-citizenship requirements and seeks to safeguard equal access to the ballot.
