AT A GLANCE
- The NAACP has named former DOJ Civil Rights Division chief Kristen Clarke as its next general counsel.
- Clarke will oversee the organization’s legal strategy, including litigation tied to voting rights, gerrymandering, and First Amendment issues.
- The appointment comes as the NAACP ramps up legal fights over voting access and civil rights protections.
- Clarke previously made history as the first woman and first Black woman to lead the DOJ Civil Rights Division.
NAACP Announces Kristen Clarke as Next General Counsel
The NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the United States, has hired a former Biden Justice Department official to lead its legal advocacy work.
Kristen Clarke, who previously headed the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, will serve as the NAACP’s next general counsel, the organization announced Wednesday.
According to an announcement first shared with The Associated Press, Clarke will oversee the NAACP’s legal strategy and operations while leading its litigation efforts on voter access, gerrymandering, the First Amendment, and other civil rights and social justice issues.
Clarke Says the Moment Calls for Accountability
“The NAACP has stood on the front lines of justice for over a century, and I’m deeply honored to join this historic organization at this critical moment in our democracy,” Clarke said in a statement.
“Our communities are under relentless attack from the ballot box to their wallets and this moment demands that we use the full weight of the law to promote justice and accountability,” she said.
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson called Clarke “the legal mind this moment demands.”
“As we face unprecedented attacks on voting and civil rights, having Kristen Clarke at the helm of our legal operations brings strategic vision, disciplined leadership, and innovative advocacy,” Johnson said in a statement.
NAACP Sharpens Legal Strategy Amid Voting Rights Fights
The NAACP said Clarke’s appointment reflects how the organization is mobilizing legal firepower to push back against Republican efforts to dismantle voting rights protections that date back to the Civil Rights Movement, when Black Americans overcame legal suppression and intimidation, especially across the South.
Nearly a year ago, the NAACP sued over President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to require proof of citizenship for voter registration, arguing the measure violated the constitutional rights of states to regulate voting and discriminated against voters of color.
A federal judge blocked that order in June, siding with a group of Democratic state attorneys general who also challenged its constitutionality.
Clarke Brings a Long Civil Rights Record to the Role
Clarke was the first woman and the first Black woman appointed to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. During her time in the role from 2021 to 2024, she pursued reforms in police departments over abusive practices, including in Memphis after the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols.
She also served on the DOJ team that prosecuted an avowed white supremacist for hate crimes after a 2022 shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket killed 10 Black people.
Before joining the Justice Department, Clarke earned degrees from Harvard University and Columbia Law School and served as president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an organization founded more than 60 years ago to challenge racial segregation.
Since leaving federal service, Clarke has worked as a professor at Howard University School of Law, a role she will continue while serving at the NAACP.
