Press Release

WASHINGTON – Lynda Garcia, policing campaign director at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, will testify today before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary’s oversight hearing on policing practices. Garcia’s testimony underscores the importance of public safety for all communities and emphasizes the critical need to implement transformative policing practices to increase accountability and build community trust.

DALLAS – It’s time to rethink public safety and renew community trust. On September 21, 2019 at 12 p.m. CDT, The Leadership Conference Education Fund and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights will host a panel discussion on “Bridging the Gap: Past, Present, and Future of Policing in Dallas” to introduce the organizations’ Policing Campaign, report and toolkit for Dallas to advance 21st century and data-driven best practices in policing.

WASHINGTON – Kristine Lucius, executive vice president for policy and government affairs at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the confirmation of Ada Brown (Northern District of Texas) and Steven Grimberg (Northern District of Georgia), who both refused to affirm that Brown v. Board of Education was correctly decided:

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference Education Fund held a telebriefing today to discuss the staggering number of polling place closures in states with histories of racial discrimination in just the past six years. The Education Fund’s recently released report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote,” found that 13 states shuttered 1,688 polling places since the 2012 general election cycle.

WASHINGTON – Thirteen U.S. states closed a staggering 1,688 polling locations in just six years, according to a new report from The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote,” notes that 1,173 of the closures occurred between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections – underscoring the scale of this assault on U.S. democracy. Texas, Georgia, and Arizona top the list of highest closure rates between 2012 to 2018.

PHOENIX — The Leadership Conference Education Fund will hold a press call on Wednesday, September 11, at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. MT to discuss its newly released report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote.” A second iteration of original research first released in 2016, the report analyzes 757 of 861 counties and county-level equivalents previously covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which the U.S. Supreme Court gutted in its Shelby County v. Holder decision. The report explains how and why polling place closures have an increasingly detrimental impact on communities in states with histories of voter discrimination.

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference Education Fund will hold a national press call on Tuesday, September 10, at 3 p.m. ET to discuss its newly released report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote.” A second iteration of original research first released in 2016, the report analyzes 757 of 861 counties and county-level equivalents previously covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which the U.S. Supreme Court gutted in its Shelby County v. Holder decision. The report explains how and why polling place closures are having an increasingly detrimental impact on communities in states with histories of voter discrimination.

WASHINGTON – Two civil rights leaders today outlined in SCOTUSblog why Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Sharon McGowan, chief strategy officer and legal director of Lambda Legal, authored the piece and previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division – with Gupta as acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division and McGowan as principal deputy chief of the Appellate Section.