Civil Rights and Social Justice

    Join Us. Whatever your area of specialization, CRSJ has a place for you. The Section fulfills our role by: raising and addressing often complex and difficult civil rights and civil liberties issues in a changing and diverse society; and ensuring that protection of individual rights remains a focus of legal and policy decisions.

    Attend the 2020 Thurgood Marshall Award Celebration

    The Section will honor founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Marian Wright Edelman with the 2020 Thurgood Marshall Award. Under her leadership as president for 45 years, CDF has become the nation’s strongest voice for children and families. The celebration honoring Mrs. Edelman will take place virtually on Friday, July 31 at 4:30 p.m. CT during the Annual Meeting. You may purchase tickets to the event through Annual Meeting registration.

    Purchase - Your Ticket

    Sponsor the Thurgood Marshall Celebration

    The ABA Thurgood Marshall Award brings our passionate community of lawyers and advocates together for an evening of celebration and serves as an essential funding source to sustain the Section's charitable programs, including expanded programming in response to COVID-19 highlighting the effects of the pandemic on civil rights and social justice, on elections in particular, and on the fundamental causes of inequality. We welcome your generous support of the Award Celebration through charitable sponsorship and will proudly and widely recognize your firm for your critical support. CRSJ pays every gift forward by giving the legal profession and advocacy community the tools to make positive change.

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    Human Rights Magazine - New Issue Available!

    Volume 45, No. 3

    This being an election year, Human Rights magazine is devoting two full issues to voting rights. The first included articles on voter registration, problems facing Native American voters, voter roll purges, the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, and racial gerrymandering. This volume features articles on redistricting, voting by disabled persons, voting on college campuses, cybersecurity, campaign finance, and many others. Together, these two issues of Human Rights provide a great tutorial on current issues in voting rights and election administration—subjects that have gained widespread public attention in recent years. Since our first issue on voting rights, a new challenge has emerged: how to conduct elections in the midst of a public health emergency.

    Read - the latest issue

    Statement from the Officers of the Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice

    The Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice stands with those demanding justice for the killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others in a long history of lethal violence against African Americans dating back more than 400 years.

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    The Section's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

    The Webinar Series

    In order to serve and provide resources to our Section members, the greater ABA, and the general public, the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice has developed a multi-part webinar series exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic highlights critical legal issues of criminal justice, civil rights, human rights, and economic concerns, to name only a few. In these free webinars, panelists will address the deepening crises in our collective pursuit of advancing law and justice.

    ABA President Martinez decries violence against George Floyd, Black community and pledges action.

    Lawyers have a special duty to address injustices done in the name of law. ABA President Judy Perry Martinez pledges action in her statement.

    Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice & NYU Review of Law & Social Change Joint Online Symposium is Available Now!

    ABA Immigration Symposium Issue

    This collection of articles and event panel transcripts arose from the six-part Immigration Webinar Series hosted by the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice's Rights of Immigrants Committee from November 2019 to April 2020. The webinar series explored immigration at the intersection of national security law, public international law and U.S. constitutional law, among other areas.

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    Children's Defense Fund Marian Wright Edelman to Receive 2020 Award

    Virtual Celebration Scheduled

    The Section will honor founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Marian Wright Edelman with the 2020 Thurgood Marshall Award. Under her leadership as president for 45 years, CDF has become the nation’s strongest voice for children and families. The virtual celebration honoring Mrs. Edelman will take place on Friday, July 31 at 4:30 p.m. CT during the Annual Meeting.

    About - the 2020 Award

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    Whatever your area of specialization, CRSJ has a place for you. By joining us today, you can help ensure that the world’s largest voluntary professional association continues to uphold the Bill of Rights and the ideals it embodies.

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    Over the past five decades, the Section and its members have worked on hundreds of issues addressing a broad range of civil rights, civil liberties, and international human rights. Today, the Section continues to promote policies affecting religious freedom, LGBT rights, gender equity, and other significant civil rights issues. Your gift will help make our efforts possible for the next fifty years!

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