March is Women’s History Month. This is a pivotal time for women and girls, as the new administration seeks to gut DEI programs and weaken longstanding civil rights protections.
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs remains resolved to fulfill our longstanding commitment to protecting women and girls from gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and unfair treatment.
Daily, we draw inspiration from our clients – teen students, mothers, grandmothers, construction workers, tenant leaders who courageously fight for the rights of women, children, and families. Our clients include:
Ms. Keysha Powell who sued D.C. Public Schools in 2024 to ensure that her young child with disabilities is provided adequate afterschool programming
Asian immigrant pregnant women who are challenging President Trump’s executive order aimed at ending constitutional citizenship for infants born on U.S. soil
Latina construction workers who took their employers to court to halt sexual harassment and retaliation termination
Black high school girls who sued Shenandoah County School Board in 2024 for renaming their school after Confederate General Stonewall Jackson
These women and girls are our s/heroes! We are motivated and inspired by their courage and resolve.
Now more than ever – we remain committed to using strategic litigation to advance women’s rights and gender justice.
This Women’s History Month, we will be featuring stories about our female clients, staff attorneys, pro bono partners, and board members.
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs WLC
Legal Battle Launched to Protect 600,000 Venezuelans from Deportation
On Feb. 20, 2025, CASA and Make the Road New York, represented by WLC and Cleary Gottlieb, filed a lawsuit to stop the unconstitutional termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuela.
On Feb. 5 the Homeland Security Secretary issued an order to end TPS for Venezuelans in the U.S. This unconstitutional action will endanger 600,000 Venezuelans who may be subjected to forced deportation to a country suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the history of the Western Hemisphere. The WLC lawsuit argues that the TPS termination is unconstitutional, racially motivated, and violates due process protections. The termination comes within days of federal officials calling Venezuelans “dirtbags” on Fox News.
“TPS has been a lifeline for Venezuelans seeking humanitarian protection,” said Joanne Lin, WLC Executive Director. “Absent court intervention, 600,000 Venezuelans will be stripped of TPS protection and subject to forced deportation to a country plagued with a severe humanitarian and human rights crisis.”
Judge Awards Proud Boys Trademark to Metropolitan AME Church
On February 3, 2025, a Washington, D.C. court awarded the trademarked name, the Proud Boys, to Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in partial satisfaction of a $2.8 million judgment.
Metropolitan AME Church, represented by WLC, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and pro bono counsel Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, sued the Proud Boys and other defendants after an attack on the Church in 2020. The court issued a default judgment against the Proud Boys. In order to enforce this judgment, Metropolitan AME sought the transfer of the Proud Boys trademark.
Lawsuit Challenges Meta’s Racial Bias in Higher Education Ads
On Feb. 11, 2025, WLC filed a groundbreaking lawsuit challenging Meta for discrimination in higher education advertising practices. The lawsuit argues that Meta disproportionately steers ads for for-profit colleges to Black users of Instagram and Facebook, violating the District of Columbia Human Rights Act (DCHRA) and Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA).
Algorithmic systems should promote equity and opportunity – not replicate and reinforce systemic discrimination. Social media companies provide separate and unequal services when they steer educational opportunities based on race.
There is a documented history of for-profit colleges promising students upward mobility and instead delivering sub-par education, leading to diminished earning potential and employment opportunities. Research shows that attendees of for-profit schools – especially those who are Black – often are saddled with massive debts. Nearly 24,000 federal fraud complaints were filed against for-profit colleges between 2017 and 2019.
All students – regardless of race or zip code – deserve an equal shot at exploring higher education opportunities that will allow them to thrive. This lawsuit marks a significant step in holding Big Tech companies accountable for their role in reproducing racial and economic inequities.
Honoring Courage: Virginia NAACP & Students Stand for Justice
Join us May 28, at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC, for the 2025 Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon. This year, we proudly present the Alfred McKenzie Award to the Virginia NAACP and students and families who challenged the Shenandoah County school board’s decision to rename public schools in honor of Confederate generals.
Be part of this powerful moment as we celebrate the courage of our clients and the commitment of our law firm partners and staff. Your support makes this work possible!
Emily Grim serves as Gilbert’s Managing Partner for Hiring and Staffing. She has successfully recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance assets and counseled clients in large complex bankruptcies.
A board member of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC), Emily says, “Through my work with WLC over the years on various cases and as an associate trustee, I observed first-hand WLC’s profound impact in combating injustice in the Greater Washington DC region and nationwide. I joined the WLC board because I wanted to support its work to effectuate social change through the justice system and to protect our most vulnerable communities.”
Since 2023, Gilbert has partnered with WLC to represent individuals imprisoned at the U.S. Penitentiary Lee (USP Lee) in Virginia. These prisoners have suffered beatings, inhumane restraints, racial and psychological abuse, and the withholding of prescribed medications by the guards at USP Lee. Gilbert and WLC have filed nine federal lawsuits on behalf of USP Lee prisoners – seeking to improve detention conditions and to ensure that all prisoners are treated with dignity, humanity, and are provided with proper health care, as required by the Constitution.
Kaitlin Banner is WLC’s Deputy Legal Director. She directs WLC’s education justice project which works to ensure that students of color have equal access to education opportunities, and WLC’s public accommodations and disability rights project, which fights for people with disabilities to have the ability to thrive in integrated and accessible communities. Representative cases include Virginia State Conference of the NAACP et al. v. Shenandoah County School Board (challenging the School Board’s 2024 decision to name schools after Confederate generals); Charles H. v. District of Columbia (class action challenging the failure to provide special education at the DC Jail); Black Lives Matter et. al vs. Trump et. al (class action challenging the assault on Black Lives Matter protesters at Lafayette Square); and Costa et. al v. Bazron et al. (challenging failure of a psychiatric hospital to keep patients safe during public health emergencies).
Juliana Andonian, a Levy Firestone Muse LLP associate, focuses on investigations, whistleblower representation, and criminal defense. Fluent in Spanish, Juliana maintains an active pro bono practice focused on prison conditions and post-conviction matters. She previously worked as an attorney at Families Against Mandatory Minimums where she helped to build and run a federal compassionate release clearinghouse.
A Harvard Law School graduate, Juliana clerked for The Honorable Paula Xinis (U.S. Dist. Court for Maryland).
Juliana serves as the Levy Firestone Associate Trustee to the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC). “I give my time to WLC because of the important work they do to protect the constitutional rights of DC residents in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons. Working with WLC on a prisoner case at the infamous, now-shuttered “special management unit” at U.S. Penitentiary at Thomson has been one of the most impactful experiences of my career.”
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:
Board Co-Chairs Joseph Davis (Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP) Avis Buchanan (retired) Board of Directors
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs works to create legal, economic, and social equity for low-income marginalized communities in Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, and across the country. We partner with individuals and communities facing discrimination and with the legal community to achieve justice. We bring strategic litigation to advance fair housing, disability rights, education equity, workers’ rights, immigrant justice, women’s rights, and criminal legal system reform.
