The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (“LDF”) honored former United States Attorney General Eric Holder with its Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s special 75th Anniversary National Equal Justice Award Dinner (NEJAD) on November 4. The award is given in recognition of his lifelong effort to advance civil rights.

Holder, a New York City native and now a partner at Covington and Burling, LLP, fought throughout his tenure at the U.S. Department of Justice to enforce the Voting Rights Act and ensure that every American has access to the polls. After the Supreme Court’s devastating decision in Shelby v. Holder in 2013, Holder spoke out against the rollback of Sections 4 and 5 – the important and affirmative protections against discriminatory election policies in states with a history of racial injustice – and fought to preserve the full breadth of Section 2 of the Act.

Holder’s legacy also includes pattern and practice investigations into racial disparities in policing in Ferguson and Cleveland. Under Holder’s watch, violent crime rates also steadily declined, and the Department provided unprecedented support for state and local law enforcement partners, including federal grants through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Since his departure from the Department of Justice, Holder has been a forceful critic of the role of racial bias in the criminal justice system.

“LDF is proud to salute Eric Holder this year, along with all its honorees,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of LDF. “Holder’s important contributions to civil rights law and enforcement came at a critical time in the fight for racial justice in this country. His judgment, vision, and leadership will endure.”

LDF has been at the forefront of our nation’s most compelling civil and human right crises, including our landmark victory in Brown v. Board of Education, which serves as the foundation for the equality and diversity that all Americans enjoy today. LDF’s seventy-five-year civil rights journey has included more than 400 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, each of which has a vivid and compelling history. In its 75th Anniversary year, LDF has through a series of events celebrated the legacy of its founder, Thurgood Marshall, and commemorated civil rights milestones such as the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In April, Eric Holder acknowledged the organization by saying, “LDF has made once-unimaginable progress in expanding democracy, drawing attention to persistent disparities, and securing the more just society that all Americans deserve. As this vital organization celebrates 75 years of civil rights achievements, I look forward to all that it will accomplish in the days and years to come.”