We are proud to announce that the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (“WLC”), along with our client OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA) and co-counsel Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Advancing Justice – AAJC),have filed a lawsuit challenging the President’s attempt to unilaterally strip citizenship from babies born in the U.S. to parents who are on lawful temporary visas or are undocumented. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Read more.
Honoring Bryan Stevenson
Join us May 28, at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC, for the 2025 Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon, where we will honor Bryan Stevenson for his extraordinary leadership in civil rights.
Be a part of this historic event as we celebrate the courage of our clients and the dedication of our law firm partners and staff. Your support makes this work possible!
Because February is Black History Month, it is always a good time to reflect on where we are and where we’ve come from. The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs was founded in 1968, one of the most tumultuous years in modern American history. This was the year that saw the assassinations of two civil rights icons and more than 100 cities burn in the midst of racial unrest. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act had only recently been signed into law. Only in April of that year did it finally become unlawful for landlords to discriminate against Black tenants.
Disability Rights Maryland Sues Maryland Health Department Over Prolonged Incarceration of Defendants with Disabilities
Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), along with WLC and Wiley Rein LLP, filed an important lawsuit in the federal District of Maryland. Maryland law requires that criminal defendants found incompetent to stand trial and too dangerous to be released must be transferred within 10 days to a state healthcare facility for treatment and competency restoration. However, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) has left hundreds of these individuals in jail for weeks or months, where they endure squalid conditions, solitary confinement, and further mental health deterioration – undermining the purpose of their confinement. Many of these individuals, often charged with low-level or non-violent crimes, are improperly identified as dangerous solely because of their disability.
Ted Howard was appointed as Wiley’s first full-time Pro Bono Partner in 2014. Ted received the 2015 Wiley Branton Award – WLC’s highest award bestowed for outstanding civil rights leadership and achievement. He was honored again by WLC in 2023 for outstanding pro bono achievement in litigation challenging the detention of Central American unaccompanied minors in Shenandoah County.
A longtime WLC board member, Ted has received many awards including the Justice Impact Award from the Washington Council of Lawyers (2023) and the Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award from Disability Rights Maryland (2023).
Most recently, in Jan. 2025, Ted along with his Wiley colleagues and WLC, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Disability Rights Maryland (“DRM”) against the Maryland Department of Health (“MDH”). The lawsuit challenges MDH’s continuous failure to provide timely and appropriate mental health care and supportive services to criminal defendants who have been deemed incompetent to stand trial (“IST”) as is required by Maryland law.
“Maryland’s legislature expressly noted the serious constitutional implications of subjecting IST-adjudicated individuals to indefinite jail detention, delaying their access to needed treatment, when it modified the existing law to require MDH to implement hospitalizations within a specific – and short – time period,” said Ted Howard. “MDH’s conscious and complete failure to comply with its statutory obligations in this regard is simply unacceptable and calls out for redress by the federal court.”
Mary Marston, a Crowell & Moring associate, represents clients in complex civil matters in federal and arbitral forums and also provides environmental and energy regulatory consulting.
Mary received high honors from the DC Court of Appeals Pro Bono Honor Roll. She is a graduate of Washington College of Law.
As one of the Crowell Associate Trustees for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Mary says, “It is an honor to support an organization that has been committed to racial justice since 1968. Now, more than ever, we need lawyers who are dedicated to addressing societal inequities in the Greater Washington DC region and across the country.”
Our Associates Campaign “Together for Justice”launched on February 3 and runs through mid-April. Over 35 law firms across the DMV are participating in this fundraising campaign.
If your firm would like to participate, please contact Ariel Derby at ariel_derby@washlaw.org.
Coming Down the Pike
WLC is Coming to Your Neighborhood!
In 2025, WLC house parties will take place throughout the DC metro area. WLC staff and board members will discuss our racial justice work:
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee works to create legal, economic and social equity through litigation, client and public education and public policy advocacy.
