NELA

Empowering Workers' Rights Attorneys

Keep Our Courts Fair

Keep Our Courts Fair

Diversity on the Bench: “It All Matters”

As you can read on our website page, diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values of the National Employment Lawyers Association. Those values are essential to the achievement of NELA’s mission, which includes empowering workers’ rights attorneys by promoting a fair judiciary. In other words, NELA is committed to the principle that the playing field for its members, and their clients, is “level” only if the group of people who have the authority to decide on the merits of their claims – the judiciary – is, taken as a whole, “fair.”

And to be “fair,” the judiciary must reflect the diversity of the population of citizens that it serves. The Brennan Center for Justice put it aptly in an article titled, What Research Shows About the Importance of Supreme Court Diversity: “Ensuring demographic and experiential diversity on the bench is not just an appropriate component of judicial selection, it is necessary.” As the article points out, this is true for a number of reasons.

First, because the judiciary is a vital public institution, it is critical for it to have the trust and confidence of the public that it serves, and “a diverse judiciary helps instill trust in the … Read More

NELA Statement on Justice Stephen Breyer’s Retirement

The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and National Institute for Workers’ Rights (the Institute) thank Justice Stephen Breyer for his nearly 30 years of service on the U.S. Supreme Court. He will leave a legacy of opinions in support of women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, health care, and civil liberties—issues that affect working people from all walks of life.

As we honor Justice Breyer’s legacy, we celebrate this opportunity for President Biden to keep his commitment to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court. We support the Biden Administration in continuing to bring both demographic and experiential diversity to the federal bench, which is far stronger, fairer and more reflective of our country today as a result. NELA and the Institute will continue to advocate for a federal bench that upholds our commitment to civil rights and equal justice on issues that affect working people. We urge President Biden and the Senate to move forward expeditiously, and to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court from among our nation’s abundance of highly qualified women jurists, scholars and lawyers.

About the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)

Founded in 1985, the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) is the nation’s largest bar … Read More

NELA Statement on the Confirmation of Myrna Perez to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals

Contact: Andrea Hansen, ahansen@flyingcrow.com, (509) 306-1867

The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) celebrates today’s U.S. Senate vote confirming Judge Myrna Pérez to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Pérez is one of only two Latinx judges serving on the Second Circuit, which serves a diverse region with a large Latinx community. She is also the first Latina to serve on the Second Circuit since Justice Sonia Sotomayor was appointed to the Supreme Court. Latinx Americans make up only eight percent of active federal judges in the nation.

Pérez’s extensive experience as a litigator and legal academic makes her eminently qualified to serve on the Second Circuit. Her deep expertise in voting rights and election law is critically important. Ensuring that the federal bench includes more attorneys whose careers have been devoted to advancing civil and individual rights is vital to our democracy.  

NELA has long advocated for and spoken out about the importance of experiential diversity on the bench. Research shows that judges with corporate or prosecutorial backgrounds are far more likely to rule against workers. Demographic and professional diversity within the federal judiciary is essential to ensure that workers have a fair shot at justice.

NELA is … Read More

Letter To The Senate Judiciary Committee Opposing The Confirmation Of Amy Coney Barrett To The U.S. Supreme Court

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Submitted Via Email

The Honorable Lindsay Graham, Chair
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein, Ranking Member
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
152 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein:

On behalf of the 2,000 members of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), I write to express our strong opposition to the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court. Our additional 2,000 circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country are also watching this confirmation process with concern.

At the outset, we must raise our strong objection to the blatant Republican double standard surrounding this confirmation process. There should be no disagreement that the confirmation process for a United States Supreme Court nominee should be advanced in an honest, fair, and principled manner. One should not need to write a letter to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary underscoring that the rules that have been applied to a confirmation process of a Supreme Court nominee nominated by a Democratic president should be the same rules applied to a confirmation … Read More

NELA Opposes The Confirmation Of SCOTUS Nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett

“Working people deserve better than Judge Barrett.”

NELA strongly opposes the appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. NELA, along with a sizable majority of Americans polled, believes that there should be no confirmation of the Court’s next Justice until after inauguration day in 2021. Early voting in the November election is underway; this important decision should be left to the next president and Senate, after the people have spoken.

A comprehensive review of Judge Barrett’s record makes it abundantly clear that she is a threat to the working people of this country and the civil rights protections for which so many have fought.

Judge Barrett’s decisions reflect an utter failure to grasp the realities of the workplace for regular, everyday working people. She sided with corporations and employers over working people in 83 percent of the employment-related cases reviewed.

These are just a few examples of Judge Barrett’s disregard for worker protections:

Barrett Upholds Racial Discrimination
Barrett authored the opinion in Terry Smith v. Illinois Department of Transportation, concluding that a Black employee who was called the “N” word in his workplace had not established that he faced a hostile work environment.
Barrett Upholds
… Read More