May 2026 was a time of community celebration for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC).
On May 21, the Council for Court Excellence presented WLC with the Justice Potter Stewart award, in recognition of significant contributions to the law, the legal system, and the administration of justice in the District of Columbia. I was humbled and honored to accept the award on behalf of WLC, joined by our staff, consultants, and board members.
A week later, on May 27, WLC hosted our annual Wiley A. Branton awards luncheon. More than 550 supporters gathered to celebrate as the Branton award—our highest honor—was presented to the alumni of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division (CRT). Loretta Lynch (former U.S. Attorney General) and Peter Keisler (former Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division) presented the Branton award, offering moving tributes to the CRT alumni who have dedicated years—and some, decades—to enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws, without fear or favor. More than 75 CRT alumni came forward to jointly accept the award.
Together For Justice,
Joanne Lin
Executive Director
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Justice Potter Stewart Award
On May 21, WLC received the Justice Potter Stewart award from the Council for Court Excellence. Accepting the award on behalf of WLC, executive director Joanne Lin highlighted our lawsuit challenging warrantless immigration arrests in D.C. following the August 2025 federal takeover. She composed a poem for the occasion, which is captured in this video clip.
When we listen and respond to community need.
We marshal resources and move with speed.
We step up to vanquish a practice of Hate We go to court to lit-i-gate.
Protecting our neighbors, no thinking twice Winning! And Proving — We Can Stop ICE!
Defending DC, we call and unite The Rule of Law lives on... so long as we fight!
Thank you to our incredible community for the extraordinary support at the 2026 Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon. Together, we raised a record-breaking $1,625,000 to power our civil rights work. We would like to extend a special thanks to our 67 sponsors.
We were proud to honor:
Alumni of the DOJ Civil Rights Division: Wiley A. Branton Award
Your support makes this work possible. Join the fight for justice and equality here.
Top: Branton 2026 honorees the alumni of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Bottom left: Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch with Joanne Lin and Branton chairs Mark Guerrera, Will Barry, and Jeannie Rhee. Bottom right: Patagonia corporate leaders Hilary Dessouky, Corley Kenna, and Alexa Liccardi with WLC's Ryan Downer and Joanne Lin.
Covington & Burling: Honored for Outstanding Achievement in Landmark Racial and Education Justice Trial
At the Branton 2026 awards luncheon, Covington & Burling LLP was honored with an Outstanding Achievement Award for their pro bono work on a landmark racial justice trial that is sure to go down in the history books.
Working alongside WLC, the Virginia NAACP, and student plaintiffs, the Covington team co-counseled a major lawsuit challenging the Shenandoah County school board’s 2024 decision to rename public schools after Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The court has already ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, holding that requiring students to attend schools bearing Confederate names violates their free expression rights under the First Amendment. A final ruling on the race discrimination claims is expected by October 2026.
Holding the Federal Government Accountable for the Abuse of Incarcerated Trans Women
By Natalie Gesmar (Equal Justice Works fellow) and Hannah Mullen (staff attorney)
This Pride Month, roughly a quarter-million LGBTQ+ people will be behind bars. The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights is fighting alongside them for safety, recognition, and justice.
LGBTQ+ people are incarcerated at roughly three times the rate of the general population. Nearly one in six trans people will be locked up at some point in their lives, and that rate jumps to almost 50% for Black trans people. The criminalization of queerness is nothing new, but the latest wave of attacks involves hundreds of state and federal policies and laws targeting the ability of trans people to receive health care, exist in public spaces, participate in school sports, serve in the military, and live free from violence and abuse.
Once incarcerated, trans people experience routine physical and sexual violence, often from their jailers. Trans people in prisons are doubly erased: They are removed from public life and then denied recognition of their existence.
The federal Bureau of Prisons is slashing protections for trans incarcerated people that have existed for nearly a decade, including flexibility in housing assignments to increase safety and access to gender-affirming medical and mental health care.
In 2025, WLC and Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP sued the federal government on behalf of three trans women who were physically and sexually abused while incarcerated at US Penitentiary (USP) Coleman II, a high-security penitentiary for men in Florida.
The suits allege that officers in the Special Housing Unit (SHU)—an isolated area away from the general population—singled the women out for harassment and abuse. Officers chained the women in stress positions, beat them, sexually assaulted them, and verbally berated them with transphobic slurs. The suits further allege that leadership at USP Coleman II knew that staff routinely abused SHU residents, especially trans women, and looked the other way.
In December 2025, the federal government answered the complaints, moving the suits into discovery. The cases are expected to go to trial in 2027.
June D.C. Primary: June 8–16
The June D.C. primary will be highly consequential—with 15 races, 70 candidates, and ranked choice voting for the first time in the District of Columbia. WLC and 30 other organizations recently hosted major candidate forums to discuss D.C. courts, justice systems, and community safety. Check out the video-recorded debates featuring D.C. mayoral candidates and congressional candidates here.
June 8 to 14: In-person early voting at early vote centers (open 8:30 am to 7:00 pm)
June 16 deadline:
Vote in person: at any vote center (7:00 am to 8:00 pm)
Vote by mail: ballots must be postmarked by June 16
Vote by drop box: ballots must be deposited in the drop box by 8:00 pm on June 16
Board Co-Chairs Brian Schneider (ArentFox Schiff) Avis Buchanan (retired)
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.
