Janai Nelson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Janai Nelson
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| President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund | |
| Assumed office March 2022 |
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| Preceded by | Sherrilyn Ifill |
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| Education | New York University (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (JD) |
Janai Nelson is an American lawyer who works to protect civil rights. She is currently the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF). The LDF is a well-known organization that uses the law to fight for fairness and equality for all people.
Contents
Janai Nelson's Career
Her Education
Janai Nelson went to New York University and earned her first degree. Later, she studied law at the UCLA School of Law. This education helped her prepare for a career in law and civil rights.
Her First Time at the LDF
Janai Nelson began her work in civil rights at the LDF. She started there in 1995 while still a student. After finishing law school, she joined the LDF full-time in 1998. She worked on important cases related to voting rights. This included cases about how voting districts are drawn (called redistricting) and laws that make it harder for people to vote.
During this time, she worked on cases like Hayden v. Pataki. This case challenged a law in New York that stopped people with past felony convictions from voting. She also helped represent African- and Haitian-American voters in NAACP v. Hood. This case challenged actions that made it harder for people to vote after a presidential election.
After her first time at the LDF, Janai Nelson became a Fulbright Scholar. This allowed her to do research in Ghana, West Africa.
Teaching and Research
Janai Nelson spent almost 10 years working as a professor. She taught law at St. John's University School of Law. She taught classes about election laws, voting rights, and the U.S. Constitution. She also wrote many articles for law journals and other publications. Her work focused on how elections work and how race affects democracy.
She received an award called the Derrick A. Bell Award. She was also recognized as one of the top minority professors in legal education.
Her Return to the LDF
Janai Nelson came back to the LDF in 2014. She became the Associate Director-Counsel. She worked on many important legal cases and helped shape the LDF's policies.
One key case she led was Veasey v. Abbott (2018). This case successfully challenged a voter ID law in Texas that made it harder for some people to vote. She also helped lead National Urban League, et al. v. Trump (2020). This case challenged a government order that tried to stop diversity training in workplaces.
In 2021, Janai Nelson helped Professor Nikole Hannah-Jones in a legal case. This case was about a university's decision regarding her job promotion.
Janai Nelson has also helped start important programs at the LDF. One is the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP). This program helps train new civil rights lawyers. It is named after Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court Justice, and Constance Baker Motley, a famous civil rights lawyer. She also helped launch the Thurgood Marshall Institute.
Awards and Recognition
Janai Nelson has received several awards for her work. In 2013, she received the Derrick A. Bell Award. This award came from the Association of American Law Schools. In the same year, she was also named one of Lawyers of Color's "50 Under 50" minority professors. This recognized her impact on legal education.
