Elaine Jones - Civil Rights Career

Civil Rights Career

After graduating from law school in 1970, Ms. Jones joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the nation’s oldest law firm fighting for equal rights and justice for people of color, women and the poor. She was one of the first African American women to defend death row inmates. Only two years out of law school, she was counsel of record in Furman v. Georgia, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that abolished the death penalty in 37 states. During this period, she also argued numerous employment discrimination cases, including class actions against some of the nation's largest employers (e.g., Patterson v. American Tobacco Co., Stallworth v. Monsanto, and Swint v. Pullman Standard).

In 1975, Ms. Jones was named special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, William T. Coleman, Jr. She returned to the LDF in 1977, where she originated the position of legislative advocate in the LDF's Washington, D.C. office. In that capacity, she earned a reputation as a skillful negotiator and an ardent voice for those who have been shut out of the economic, political, and social mainstream. Her work was instrumental in reshaping the federal judiciary to include more people of color and more judges committed to equal rights. She also played a key role in securing passage of legislative milestones such as the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, the Fair Housing Act of 1988, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991.