Five Questions with NAACP General Counsel Kristen Clarke

The former head of DOJ's Civil Rights Division is still working to protect your right to vote.

There is a lot of legitimate concern about how Donald Trump, cornered and underwater in the polls, may try to interfere with the upcoming elections. Tonight, we turn to the woman who worked to protect elections as a key leader in the civil rights community, continued that work as the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division during the Biden administration, and continues her work now, as the NAACP’s General Counsel, when it’s more important than ever. Kristen Clarke is doing the work that matters every day.

Last week, Kristen and I caught up on an issue that erupted during primary elections in Michigan, Tennessee,. and elsewhere: DOJ sending out poll watchers to observe elections. That program has been around for a long time, with volunteers from across the Department sent out to observe at polling places across the country where concerns have been raised. But I wanted you to have more information because the issue is an important one, and I fear it has gotten lost in the swamp of news these days. So I asked Kristen to join us tonight to help us understand the law, the norms, past practice, and concerns about how this DOJ might take a program meant to protect the vote and use it to interfere with it. And we won’t leave you without hope. Kristen has her finger on the pulse of the work being done in the civil rights community to protect the elections and she shares that news with us as well.

“Five Questions” is a Friday feature for paid subscribers, built around the conversations that don’t fit into a news cycle driven by headlines and hot takes. It’s a chance to spend time with the people shaping the law, politics, and democracy—and to ask the questions that matter most, not just the ones everyone else is asking. Keeping the daily legal analysis free has always been important to me, and it will stay that way. These Friday conversations give me a chance to thank paid subscribers for their help ensuring that Civil Discourse remains available to everyone who wants to follow the law beyond the day’s headlines. Whether you’re a paid subscriber or a free subscriber, I’m grateful you’re here.