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Janai Nelson is President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. It was founded in 1940 by Thurgood Marshall, the highly esteemed civil rights lawyer who later became the nation’s first Black Supreme Court Justice. LDF lawyers masterminded the legal strategy that led to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Today, they play a foundational role in protecting the right of voters in elections across the country, among other issues.
Janai is a formidable lawyer. She was one of the lead counsel in Veasey v. Abbott, a successful federal challenge to Texas’s unduly restrictive voter ID law in 2018. She is also highly regarded as an academic with expertise in voting rights and election law. She was an associate dean at St. John’s University School of Law before she joined LDF in 2014, and her scholarship on issues including gerrymandering continues to be published in prestigious legal publications like the NYU Law Journal and Columbia Law Review.
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It is truly an honor to have Janai here with us tonight, as we face some of the most unusual and serious pre-election voting rights issues the nation has ever encountered. Many of you have asked about the impact of the recent hurricanes, Helene and Milton, on the election. Janai is here to discuss those issues and more with us tonight.
Before we get to the Q&A, I want to make sure you’re aware of some of the resources LDF has available for voters. Their Guide to Elections and Voting is a first-rate resource for making sure you’re ready to vote. It includes guidance for college students who are away from home and advice on researching state and local issues and candidates. Make sure you share it and bookmark it for future use! LDF also has a guide to State Voting Rights Acts and a guide to local elections.
“Five Questions” is a feature for paid subscribers, my way of thanking people who are able to support this work so that I can devote the necessary time and resources to it. I appreciate having all of you here. Free subscriptions, with access to my other posts, will always be available. Thank you for reading the newsletter and engaging in the hard but essential work of civil discourse.
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