About
The Equal Justice Society is a national legal organization focused on restoring Constitutional safeguards against discrimination. Eva Paterson and other civil rights advocates founded EJS a decade ago to reverse an imbalance in our courts, where it is now more difficult for those experiencing discrimination to receive justice, and in the hearts and minds of the public, where too many believe that discrimination no longer exists.
We aim to achieve a society where race is no longer a barrier to opportunity. We use a three-pronged approach — combining legal and policy, Grand Alliance and communication strategies — to reverse those laws and policies that erode the protections guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
The 14th Amendment, enacted after the Civil War to ensure that all Americans would receive equal protection of our nation’s laws regardless of their race or ethnicity. Despite the passage of the 14th Amendment, the nation suffered almost a century of State-sponsored segregation, intentionally promoted by right-wing ideologues who value money and power over fairness and equality.
Read more about our mission and our work.
EJS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
- Kate Kendell - Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights (EJS Board Chair)
- John Bonifaz - Co-Founder and Director, Free Speech For People
- Dorothy M. Ehrlich, Deputy Executive Director, national American Civil Liberties Union
- Raymond C. Marshall, Partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP
- Eva Paterson – EJS President
- Mona Tawatao, Senior Attorney, Western Center on Law and Poverty
- Tobias Wolff - Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School
-
Priscilla Ocen – Associate Professor of Law at Loyola Law School
-
Jayashri Srikantiah – Professor of Law and Director of Stanford Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic
- Charles Ogletree - Professor of Law, Harvard Law School (founding board member and former board chair)
- Anthony Solana, Jr. - President and Chairperson, For People of Color, Inc. (former board chair)
- Maria Blanco, Vice President, Civic Engagement, California Community Foundation (founding board member)
- Barbara A. Caulfield, Kaye Scholer LLP (former board member, in memoriam)
- James J. Brosnahan – Senior Partner, Morrison Foerster LLP (founding board member)
- Margaret M. Russell – Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law (founding board member)
- Eric Yamamoto – Professor of Law, University of Hawai`i School of Law (founding board member)
EJS STAFF
- Eva Paterson, President and Co-Founder
- Novella Coleman, Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellow (2012-2013)
- Allison Elgart, Legal Director
- Ginger Johnson, Administrative Assistant
- Keith Kamisugi, Director of Communications
- Swati Kapadia, Associate Director of Administration and Finance
- Nicole Medeiros, Director of Development
- Claudia Peña, CCRC Statewide Director of the California Civil Rights Coalition
- Fabián Rentería, Staff Attorney
- David Salniker, Director of Administration and Finance