Zenab Youssef
Celebrating Two Years of the IRA: Our ...

As we commemorate the two-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) today, August 16, there is much to celebrate about this historic legislation. The IRA represents the largest-ever climate investment in our country’s history, creating unprecedented opportunities for clean energy savings.

However, we at L4GG are acutely aware that historically marginalized communities often lack the resources to access the IRA’s historic funding opportunities. In response, we have intensified our efforts over the past two years to ensure that the benefits of the IRA reach those who need them most. See what we’ve been up to!

Celebrating Two Years of the IRA: Our Achievements and Impact
Zenab Youssef
A Law Student's Journey at the Border with ...
A Law Student's Journey at the Border with Project Corazon
L4GG Updates
Zenab Youssef
We Won’t Sit Silently in the Face of ...

Not enough people are talking about the water crisis in Jackson, MS. On Tuesday, the Mississippi governor declared a state of emergency for Jackson’s water system, the city’s largest treatment plant. Most of the city’s 150,000 residents are without running water, having to rely on bottled water for drinking, showering, brushing their teeth, and cooking.

We Won’t Sit Silently in the Face of Environmental Racism - Neither Should You
L4GG Updates
Sterling Howard
What can YOU do to fight for abortion access ...
L4GG Updates
Sterling Howard
L4GG Publishes Joint Report with New Georgia ...

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), the nation’s largest community of attorneys committed to human rights and equal justice for all, and New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit voting rights and civic engagement organization in Georgia, today released a report on ‘ballot selfies’, or the practice of taking photos of oneself at the ballot box and/or with their ballots.

A ballot selfie is when a person takes a photo of themselves holding their marked ballot and usually uploads the photo to a social media account to show friends that they voted, and for whom they voted. Ballot selfies are a great way to promote voting and engage with one’s community, yet many states have laws that prohibit them. Advocacy organizations are concerned that laws prohibiting ballot selfies are tools of voter suppression, and another way to criminalize ordinary behavior.

Click here to download “Selfie-Defense Training: Understanding and Reforming Laws that Ban Photographing and Sharing Your Ballot”

The report found that ballot selfies are completely legal in 28 states, and illegal in 13 states. Five states have laws prohibiting ballot selfies at polling locations, but not when casting a mail-in or absentee ballot. Six states have laws governing ballot selfies that are unclear. The report calls for states to update their laws to explicitly allow voters the right to take a ballot selfie, and prevent voter fraud and bribery without curtailing free speech.

L4GG Publishes Joint Report with New Georgia Project on Ballot Selfies

L4GG Joins over 70 Organizations Urging President Biden to End Title 42

After the news that President Biden would be appealing the Federal Courts decision to end Title 42, Lawyers for Good Government joined over 70 other organizations in a sign-on letter urging President Biden to do the right thing and end Title 42.

L4GG will continue to do everything in our power to end the Biden Administration’s misuse of Title 42 to expel migrants without allowing them to seek asylum in flagrant violation of international and domestic law. Title 42 is immoral, illegal and unnecessary.

Read the letter here.

L4GG - Response to Eviction Crisis

On August 30, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a call to action for the legal community, urging that we each step up to help address the looming housing and evictions crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lawyers for Good Government community of attorneys, law firms, in-house legal departments, and non-profit partners is committed to supporting this effort.

Letter from Attorney General Merrick Garland:

Over three million households are behind on rental payments and could be evicted over the next few months. Renters in the US are disproportionately people of color, and the coming eviction crisis is one that will disproportionately harm underrepresented communities. While the federal government has supplied Emergency Rental Assistance to help keep renters in their homes, only 11 percent of that rental assistance has been used. 

If you are an attorney or law student who would like to learn more about opportunities to help keep families in their homes, please fill out this very brief form to sign up for SMS and email alerts from L4GG:

“The legal profession is well positioned to provide support for tenants, landlords, and courts during this crisis. Promoting access to justice to ensure that our justice system delivers outcomes that are fair and accessible to all, irrespective of wealth or status, is one of the highest ideals of the legal profession. ”
— Attorney General Merrick Garland

L4GG Launches Work Permit Pro Bono Program to Help Asylum-Seekers Provide for Families

L4GG Launches Work Permit Pro Bono Program to Help Asylum-Seekers Provide for Families

L4GG’s Project Corazon has launched the Work Permit Pro Bono Project, a program to assist US-based asylum seekers in applying for Employment Authorization Document (EAD) cards, also known as work permits, helping them to support themselves and their families for the duration of their asylum proceedings.

L4GG Announces Thriving Families Campaign to Reunite Families & Provide Opportunities for Asylum Seekers

L4GG Announces Thriving Families Campaign to Reunite Families & Provide Opportunities for Asylum Seekers

This August, the L4GG community is coming together to support Project Corazon with two vital missions:

  1. Reuniting families who have been separated at the border; and

  2. Making sure that asylum seekers in the US have proper work authorization so they can provide for their families.

L4GG Signs On To ‘Welcome With Dignity’ Letter Condemning Biden’s Stance On Refugees

At his town hall last week, President Biden doubled down on Vice President Harris’ xenophobic statement telling asylum-seekers ‘don’t come’ to the U.S., stating it was the administration’s position that people seeking safety should not do so in the U.S.

In response, the Welcome with Dignity Campaign, of which L4GG is a member, released a statement condemning Biden’s words, and urging Biden to uphold the right to seek asylum. The Welcome with Dignity Campaign includes 80 national and regional organizations committed to transforming the way the United States receives and protects people forced to flee their homes to ensure they are treated humanely and fairly.

“People seeking safety deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and that more often than not the current realities at the border fall short of this basic measure,” said Charlene D’Cruz, Director of Lawyers for Good Government’s Project Corazon. “Telling people ‘don’t come’ is not only insensitive, but ignores the very real root causes of migration, and the U.S.’s involvement therein. People don’t leave their homes and their families behind to make the treacherous journey north because they want to, they do it because they have no choice. Seeking asylum is a human right, one that is recognized by international and domestic law, and the Biden Administration must do everything in its power to uphold that.”

Read the statement here.

L4GG Signs On to Letter Calling for Protection of Haitian Immigrants

In light of the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse and serious injury of the first lady, Martine Moïse early this morning, Lawyers for Good Government, alongside other humanitarian and advocacy organizations, has signed on to a letter urging the Biden administration to protect Haitian immigrants. 

The letter, issued by Haitian Bridge Alliance, specifically calls for the Biden administration to issue parole to all Haitians seeking protection at the U.S. Border, to publish the TPS redesignation so that eligible Haitians may apply, and reinstate the Haitian Family Reunification Parole (HFRP) Program, which allowed certain eligible U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to apply for parole for their family members in Haiti who have approved immigrant visa petitions, among other critical protections for Haitian families. 

Project Corazon works with many Haitians seeking safety at the southern U.S. border, and is committed to continuing its work helping dozens of Haitians access parole daily.

You can read the sign-on letter here.


What Vice President Harris Should Know About the Southern Border

What Vice President Harris Should Know About the Southern Border

Kamala Harris’ recently made a much-anticipated trip to the southern border region with Secretary Mayorkas. I hope that the visit will result in positive policy changes for the families fleeing danger that I work with daily, but that remains to be seen. I hope that Vice President Harris met with people who live and work in the southern border region, but as a woman of color, a fellow attorney, and one that works on the front lines with migrants seeking safety at our borders daily, this is what I would tell Vice President Harris if we were to sit down in a room together.

L4GG Applauds New Civil Rights Recommendations to the Federal Judiciary

L4GG Applauds New Civil Rights Recommendations to the Federal Judiciary

L4GG applauds new recommendations by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to the federal judiciary. As a reminder, we recently organized a group of more than 1,800 Americans, including 1,400 lawyers, to call for the nomination of civil rights leaders like Perez and Ho. We see Schumer’s recommendations as a commitment to diversifying the ranks of the Federal judiciary in promoting underrepresented groups and civil rights lawyers.