NAACP Applauds Nomination of Voting Rights Lawyer Dale Ho to Federal District Court in New York

Washington DC — Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, made the following statement about President Biden's nomination of Dale Ho to the federal judiciary:

"The NAACP is thrilled that President Biden has nominated Dale Ho to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the nation's largest and busiest federal district court. The entire federal judiciary will benefit from Dale's presence on the bench.

Dale Ho is one of the great civil rights lawyers of our era. As Director of the Voting Rights Project at the ACLU and, previously, as a voting rights attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., he has devoted his career to protecting the right of African Americans and other voters of color to fully participate in our democracy. We have seen his talents and skills up close and know the extraordinary impact he has made on behalf of communities of color. For example, he held a leadership role in the NAACP's successful multi-party litigation against North Carolina's 'monster voter suppression law,' in which the Fourth Circuit ruled that the state legislature targeted Black voters with 'almost surgical precision.' 

Dale Ho is also one of the best oral advocates of our time. In the last 30 months, he has twice argued before the Supreme Court, including a successful challenge to the Trump administration's inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

Our federal courts are in desperate need of judges with backgrounds as civil rights lawyers. We have called upon President Biden to appoint civil rights lawyers in large numbers, including voting rights lawyers. Given the vital role of the judiciary in ensuring that our democracy is open and accessible to all citizens, it is imperative that federal judges have a deep understanding of the history and modern-day struggle facing communities of color in achieving full political participation. Lawyers such as Dale Ho know how precious our democracy is and understand that the right to vote is fundamental and essential to protecting all other rights. He will bring this important perspective to the job of ensuring equal justice under law for all Americans."