Jennifer A. Holmes joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in 2017 and now serves as Deputy Director of Litigation. She supervises litigation involving economic justice, including cases combating discrimination in housing, employment, lending, and access to water to help Black communities achieve economic security and opportunity.
Jennifer helped develop Pickett v. Cleveland, a lawsuit against the City of Cleveland for its discriminatory water billing policies that threatened residents’ homes with foreclosure. She also brought a lawsuit challenging an allegedly predatory scheme by a private company in Detroit that trapped buyers in unachievable home purchase contracts.
In addition to economic justice, Jennifer maintains an active docket of cases that promote voting rights and educational equity.
Jennifer was trial counsel on behalf of a coalition of Harvard student and alumni groups in SFFA v. Harvard, a lawsuit in which LDF fought to preserve the ability of colleges and universities to use race-conscious admissions to diversify their student bodies. Jennifer continues to work on issues concerning the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s SFFA ruling in education, employment, and philanthropy.
In the area of voting rights, Jennifer is LDF’s lead counsel in HAUL v. Abbott, a case challenging a wide-ranging Texas law (SB1) that restricted voting access in ways that burdened voters of color and voters with disabilities. Jennifer was also part of the litigation team in Jones v. DeSantis, which challenged a Florida law that barred people with felony convictions from voting due to unpaid fines and fees.
Jennifer has also authored and contributed to multiple amicus briefs filed in significant civil rights cases in the federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court concerning workplace discrimination, voting rights, and DEI.
Prior to LDF, Jennifer was an associate at Covington & Burling, LLP. She previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nicholas G. Garaufis on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
A native of Washington, D.C., Jennifer received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and her B.A. from Yale University with distinction in Political Science. She is a member of the District of Columbia bar and New York bar.
