Kristen Clarke parlayed a childhood in crime-ridden East Brooklyn into a career as a civil rights lawyer and commentator on issues of race, law and democracy. As chief of the New York attorney general’s Civil Rights Bureau, a position she assumed a year ago, Clarke promotes civil rights enforcement with an arsenal of New York’s robust anti-discrimination laws.
Previously, Clarke was an attorney with the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice and co-director of the Political Participation Group at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. She was part of the NAACP litigation team that successfully defended the Voting Rights Act in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. One v. Holder, 557 U.S. 193 (2009). Another voting rights case she argued at the trial level, Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
