By Stacey Patton
The Supreme Court’s function is to solve important questions of the law by resolving cases and controversies. So what happens when it decides to hear fewer cases? And what happens when the Court hears even fewer cases on civil rights claims?

By Lee A. Daniels
For nearly two decades in the middle of the twentieth century, against daunting odds and the ever-present threat of lethal violence, she helped carry the torch of freedom into places where tyranny reigned. Later, she proved her remarkable commitment to public service could work to equally great effect in the arenas of politics, and the federal judiciary. Her name was Constance Baker Motley, and she was one of America’s great public citizens.

Six years ago this week, Calvin Willis raised his arms high above his head and walked out of a Louisiana prison, free for the first time in 21 years. Willis was wrongfully convicted of rape in 1982 and served more than two decades before DNA testing excluded him as the perpetrator.

By Smita Ghosh
Complaint Says Nonprofit Biased…Seattle Schools Moving Ahead with New Student-Assignment Plan…Williams Eyes Cuts in Busing, Return to Neighborhood Schools…Initiative Focuses on Early Learning Programs…Memphis City Schools Focus on Interventions to Help Students…Debate Simmers Over School Expulsions

By Kevin Eason
Kevin Eason is a freelance editorial cartoonist and Illustrator from NJ. His brand of satire covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and much more.

By The Editors
Most Americans undoubtedly consider America’s Constitution, that set of principles and regulations set down by the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia in 1787, as essentially a static document. It was, after all, the foundation of the nation.
But that’s “a mistaken notion,” John Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told a rapt audience of students, faculty and others September 16 at the Constitution Day convocation of Oberlin College.

The Reverend Dr. Susan Newman
It was because of his life’s calling to lift up suffering humanity and speak out for those who have no voice, and march for those who have no just ground to stand on, that Dr. Lowery was honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award, on August 12, 2009.

By George Alexander
Last month, President Obama awarded Poitier, the first African American to ever win an Academy award for best actor, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.  I couldn’t have felt more proud.

By The Editors
There’s a rumor floating around the corridors of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund that Michael Bagley, the longtime director of its scholarships program, and Judith Sloan, who’s held several high-level positions in its Development Department since 1981, have retired.

But no one wants to believe it.

One year ago, Robert McClendon was exonerated in Ohio after serving 17 years for a rape he didn’t commit. His exoneration was a result of a collaboration between the Ohio Innocence Project and the Columbus Dispatch and his case has led prosecutors to review other questionable convictions.