UPDATE: See this announcement for #LawStrikesBack press coverage and an updated list of all 40 co-sponsoring organizations and events that took place in 17 cities!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2017
Contact: Tasha Moro, NLG Communications Director
212-679-5100, ext. 15 | communications@nlg.org
NEW YORK—The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is organizing a day of action for the legal community to express our solidarity with the growing movements against the new regime and its white supremacist agenda. On February 17 at 1 PM EST, lawyers, legal workers, law students, and law professors will gather in front of courthouses across the country in coordination with the nationwide #GeneralStrike planned for the same day.
“We are facing unprecedented attacks on our most fundamental human rights and are seeing the unfolding of authoritarianism before our eyes. The legal community has no choice but to show up, to defend our communities and to fight back by holding our institutions accountable,” said NLG President and LatinoJustice PRLDEF Associate Counsel Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan.
In the three weeks since Donald Trump has taken office, we have seen a flurry of executive orders targeting immigrants and intensifying law enforcement; racist, unqualified millionaires appointed to the nation’s highest positions; assaults on the press, and “alternative facts” presented as truth. However, we have also witnessed communities engaging in profound organizing and direct action—from the streets to airports and schools—to reject the current administration and disrupt business as usual. On February 17, we’re taking the resistance to courthouses.
“It is crucial for the legal community to come together to provide support for resistance movements against the current administration. We must fight back against the legitimization of racial and religious bigotry, xenophobia, Islamophobia and misogyny that violate the core principles of democracy,” said NLG Executive Director Pooja Gehi.
A total of 25 legal organizations are participating in the event as cosponsors, representing diverse fields including immigration, racial justice, mass incarceration, LGBTQIA rights, and civil liberties and human rights. Thus far, #LawStrikesBack actions have been planned at courthouses in 10 cities, with more expected in additional locations. Check our website or Facebook event for an updated list of co-sponsors and local events throughout the week.
If your legal organization would like to co-sponsor, email NLG Research and Education Director Traci Yoder at traci@nlg.org.
#LawStrikesBack Local Actions
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Detroit, MI
Harrisburg, PA
New York, NY
Portland, OR
Philadelphia, PA
Providence, RI
St. Louis, MO
Tucson, AZ
#LawStrikesBack Sponsors
National Lawyers Guild
Abolitionist Law Center
Black and Pink
Black Movement Law Project
Center for Constitutional Rights
Civil Liberties Defense Center
Defending Dissent Foundation/Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Human Rights Defense Center
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Law4BlackLives
Law at the Margins
MetroLALSA
National Conference of Black Lawyers- Michigan Chapter
National Conference of Black Lawyers- NYC Chapter
National Immigration Project
National Jericho Movement
New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)
Palestine Legal
People’s Law Office
Sugar Law Center for Social and Economic Justice
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
TGI Justice Project (TGIJP)
UAW Local 2325-Assoc. of Legal Aid Attorneys
Water Protector Legal Collective
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
The National Lawyers Guild, whose membership includes lawyers, legal workers, jailhouse lawyers, and law students, was formed in 1937 as the United States’ first racially-integrated bar association to advocate for the protection of constitutional, human and civil rights.
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