Page 31 - Ldf News Today

Joining me now for reaction to the violence in charlottesville, sharon, president and director and co-counsel of the naacp legal defense fund. youve spent a great deal of time and ldf has spent a great deal of time in the last seven months battling with the renewed version of the justice department over voting rights and over civil rights and over where the federal government is going to come down on those issues. i want to read you what the attorney general of the united states jeffrey sessions...

Charlottesville, director and co-counsel of the naacp legal defense fund. thank you for joining me on a very difficult day. youve spent a great deal of time and ldf has spent a great deal of time in the last seven months battling with the renewed version of the justice department over voting rights and civil rights and over where the federal government is going to come down on those issues. i want to read you what the attorney general jeffrey sessions had to say about the violence in charlottesv...

Single handedly led the charge to block the very bipartisan criminal justice reform that was sought in the senate. >> and immigration reform. i would be remiss, i have the great cherilyn in front of me. im going to ask you quickly, the ldf is involved in fictional voter fraud. >> jeff sessions prosecuted our clients unsuccessfully for voter fraud. this is something we talked about when he was nominated for this position. the president created as co chairs -- we truly believe that this is essenti...

Mitch mcconnells argument, which isnt about the qualifications at all, hes essentially saying theyre going to give this nominee his hearing because you just heard it conceded. . >> im going to give the democrats an opportunity to take a look at this nominee. hell be meeting with everybody, hell be having hearings, there will be ample opportunity to assess his credentials. im hoping at the end of the day theyll conclude this nomination should be given what we call an up or down vote, not stopped ...

University of texas responded by saying 80% of applicants come in through race-blind means. we take 20%, use a holistic approach in which race is a factor but not the predominant one and theyre going to get rid of that last 20%? >> i came away very, very, very concerned. i was -- i feel that the court may do this but they will not do it on the merits. i thought there was an excellent argument by the u.t. attorney. i never thought i would be commending a bush appointee, but he did an excellent jo...

Smart, qualified black girl to lead. we have a situation now where the congress is seeing exact lyly the same thing. they are inhibiting the leaders that we need to move us through this, through these bureaucratic means and i dont care whether the republicans are playing with the president or whether this is about the immigration bill there are black lives and white lives at risk right now getting slowed up because they are not moving this forward. we have to change that. >> i have to disagree w...

Leading the department. second, the person currently charged with overseeing the civil rights division aspect of this work is herself an acting assistant a.g. shes terrific but why is her title acting? she steps into the role after the senate denied confirmation of a qualified attorney to lead the civil rights division for wholly political reasons. he was forced to withdraw from attorney general of the civil rights division. he was a 1970s "sesame street" kid was one of the most respected civil ...

Of the civil rights division was obvious. noncontroversial until conservatives launched a smear campaign because the ldf had defended jamal in an appeal after his conviction for killing a philadelphia police officer in 1981. dont miss this. he headed a civil rights organization that did what every lawyer is bound to do in our criminal justice system. vigorously defended the rights of the client. and for that, he was denied the position for which he was qualified and nominated by the president of...

And thats why its up to this generation to recognize that is a real fight. >> and sheilynn a lot of that fight from my perspective and certainly your work is in the criminal justice arena. and how we get the government to work to protect the citizens and their rights. and ldf has been at the forefront of that. you right now are still dealing with serious voter suppression questions, and you are gracious enough to come talk about it at the convention. but tell people listening and watching the fi...

Nominee, debo adegbile, the one they want to take over the doj. we heard him testify, saying look, you dont have to like the defendant you are representing. but look, we saw the legal argument. in the case, we won, we got the death sentence thrown out because we feel the jury was not given the proper instructions. and so by necessary, he says i have been vindicated in my legal position, why are you so upset about this mans nomination. >> well, i think the statement by the naacp attorney with the...