Sherrilyn Ifill Explained

Sherrilyn Ifill
Office:President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Term Start:2012
Term End:2022
Predecessor:John Payton
Successor:Janai Nelson
Birth Place:Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Relatives:Gwen Ifill (cousin)
Education:Vassar College (BA)
New York University (JD)

Sherrilyn Ifill (born December 17, 1962) is an American lawyer and the Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University. She is a law professor and former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.[1] She was the Legal Defense Fund's seventh president since Thurgood Marshall founded the organization in 1940. Ifill is a nationally recognized expert on voting rights and judicial selection.[2] In 2021, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world on its annual Time 100 list.

Early life and education

Sherrilyn Ifill was born on December 17, 1962, in Baltimore, Maryland[3] to Lester and Myrtle. She is the youngest of 10 children.[4] Her mother passed away when she was 6 years old. She graduated from Hillcrest High School.[5] Ifill has a B.A. from Vassar College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

She and the late PBS NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill were first cousins. Their family immigrated to the U.S. from Barbados,[6] with Sherrilyn's and Gwen's fathers, who were brothers, both becoming African Methodist Episcopal ministers.[7]

Career

While in law school, Ifill interned for Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. the first summer and at the United Nations Centre for Human Rights the second summer. Her first job out of law school was a one-year fellowship with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York.[8] She then served as assistant counsel at the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, litigating Voting Rights Act cases including the landmark Houston Lawyers' Association v. Attorney General of Texas.[8] In 1993, she joined the faculty of the University of Maryland Law School, where she taught for two decades.[9] [10] She is the author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century,[11] [12] a 2008 finalist for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction.[13] In 2013, she became the Legal Defense Fund's president and director-counsel.[14] She is the Steven and Maureen Klinsky Visiting Professor of Practice for Leadership and Progress at Harvard Law School, 2023-2024.[15]

Ifill regularly appears in the media for her expertise on topics like affirmative action,[16] [17] policing,[18] judicial nominees,[19] and the Supreme Court.[20] Ifill has announced that she will step down from the role of president and director-counsel in the spring of 2022, to be replaced by Janai Nelson, currently the associate director-counsel at LDF.[21] She joined the Ford Foundation as a Senior Fellow in June 2022.[22] Her writing appears in The New York Review of Books, Salon, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.[23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

In June 2023, Ifill was appointed Howard Law School's inaugural Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights. In 2024, she will launch the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy.[28] [29]

Personal life

Ifill is married to Ivo Knobloch. They have three children.

Honors and awards

In 2016, Ifill won the Society of American Law Teachers Great Teacher Award.[30]

Ifill was an American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow in 2019.[31] In 2020, Glamour magazine gave her a Woman of the Year award, calling her a "civil rights superhero."[32] In 2021, Ifill was included on the Time 100, Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[33]

She was selected as the New York State Bar Association 2023 Gold Medal Award recipient, which cited her history as a "tireless warrior for civil rights".[34]

She was awarded the Brandeis Medal in 2023.[35] [36]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Thompson. Krissah. Sherrilyn Ifill is to be head of NAACP legal defense and educational fund. July 15, 2016. The Washington Post. January 22, 2013.
  2. Web site: Alumnus/Alumna of the Month NYU School of Law. www.law.nyu.edu. en. February 19, 2017.
  3. Web site: Sherrilyn Ifill's Biography. June 19, 2020. The HistoryMakers. en.
  4. News: Thompson. Krissah. January 22, 2013. Sherrilyn Ifill is to be head of NAACP legal defense and educational fund. en-US. The Washington Post. June 19, 2020. 0190-8286.
  5. Web site: Shaping the Civil Rights Discourse: Sherrilyn Ifill '84 - Vassar, the Alumnae/i Quarterly. June 19, 2020. vq.vassar.edu.
  6. News: Alcindor. Yamiche. Thousands of Mourners Celebrate Gwen Ifill's Tenacity and Grace. February 1, 2017. The New York Times. November 19, 2016.
  7. News: Fineman. Howard. Gwen Ifill's Funeral Was A Revival Meeting For America. HuffPost. November 20, 2016.
  8. News: Okpalaoka. Ugonna. Sherrilyn Ifill named head of NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. July 15, 2016. The Grio. November 19, 2012.
  9. News: Edney. Hazel Trice. NAACP Legal Defense Fund Names Sherrilyn Ifill Next President . https://web.archive.org/web/20180410050558/http://politic365.com/2012/11/26/naacp-legal-defense-fund-names-sherrilyn-ifill-next-president/ . April 10, 2018 . Politic365 . July 15, 2016. November 26, 2012.
  10. "Closing Statements" (interview with Sherrilyn Ifill). NYU Law Magazine. 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  11. Levy, Peter B. "On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century." The Journal of Southern History 75.2 (2009): 474.
  12. News: Nonfiction Book Review: On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century by Sherrilyn A. Ifill, Author Beacon Press (MA) $25.95 (204p) ISBN 978-0-8070-0987-1 . 13 January 2021 . Publishers Weekly . January 29, 2007 . en.
  13. Web site: The Arena: Sherrilyn Ifill Bio. Politico. July 15, 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090527050831/http://www.politico.com/arena/bio/sherrilyn_ifill.html. May 27, 2009.
  14. Web site: Sherrilyn Ifill LDF President and Director Counsel . 2023-01-12 . Legal Defense Fund . en-US.
  15. Web site: Sherrilyn Ifill. Harvard Law School.
  16. News: Hefling. Kimberly. Gerstein. Josh. Supreme Court upholds college affirmative action program. July 15, 2016. Politico. June 23, 2016.
  17. News: Brown. Emma. Douglas-Gabriel. Danielle. Affirmative action advocates shocked – and thrilled – by Supreme Court's ruling in University of Texas case. July 15, 2016. The Washington Post. June 23, 2016.
  18. News: Rubenstein. Samuel. BPR Interview: Sherrilyn Ifill. July 15, 2016. Brown Political Review. November 21, 2014.
  19. News: Burke. Lauren Victoria. Garland Nomination: Black Advocates Want Him Vetted. July 15, 2016. NBC News. March 18, 2016.
  20. News: Barnes. Robert. Scalia's death affecting next term, too? Pace of accepted cases at Supreme Court slows.. July 15, 2016. The Washington Post. May 1, 2016.
  21. News: Sherrilyn Ifill to Step Down After Nearly a Decade of LDF Leadership; Longtime Deputy Janai Nelson to Lead LDF . 17 November 2021 . LDF Media . NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund . 17 November 2021.
  22. Web site: Sherrilyn Ifill joins Ford Foundation as a Senior Fellow . 2023-01-12 . Ford Foundation . June 21, 2022 . en.
  23. News: Ifill . Sherrilyn . When Diversity Matters Sherrilyn Ifill . en . 2023-01-12 . 0028-7504.
  24. Web site: Sherrilyn Ifill's Articles at Salon.com . 2023-01-12 . www.salon.com.
  25. News: Ifill . Sherrilyn . 2016-09-22 . Tackle racial bias in policing at the root . en-US . Washington Post . 2023-01-12 . 0190-8286.
  26. News: Ifill . Sherrilyn A. . 2022-03-02 . Opinion Who's Afraid of Ketanji Brown Jackson? . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-01-12 . 0362-4331.
  27. News: Ifill . Sherrilyn A. . 2021-02-12 . Opinion Lawyers Enabled Trump's Worst Abuses . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-01-12 . 0362-4331.
  28. Web site: Civil Rights Lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill Appointed Inaugural Vernon Jordan Endowed Chair in Civil Rights . The Dig at Howard University . June 21, 2023 . June 21, 2023.
  29. News: Leingang . Rachel . Sherrilyn Ifill on a Trump win: 'We will cease to be a democracy' . January 7, 2024 . . January 7, 2024.
  30. Society of American Law Teachers (May 16, 2016). "Update on SALT Activities." Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  31. Web site: 2019 Fellows and International Honorary Members with their affiliations at the time of election . members.amacad.org. March 9, 2020.
  32. John-John Williams IV. "Sherrilyn Ifill Honored as Civil Rights Superhero." Baltimore Sun, October 20, 2020, p. A2.
  33. Web site: Specker . Lawrence . Time's '100 most influential' list includes trio with Alabama ties . . November 10, 2021 . en . September 15, 2021.
  34. https://nysba.org/nysba-selects-prominent-civil-rights-attorney-sherrilyn-ifill-for-associations-highest-honor/ "NYSBA Selects Prominent Civil Rights Attorney Sherrilyn Ifill for Association’s Highest Honor"
  35. Web site: Sherrilyn Ifill to Receive 2023 Brandeis Medal .
  36. Web site: Louis D. Brandeis School of Law . https://web.archive.org/web/20221024070553/https://louisville.edu/law/events/brandeis-medal/2023 . October 24, 2022 .

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