Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Legal Momentum

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Founded
  
1971


Legal Momentum, formerly known as NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, is the oldest legal advocacy group for women in the United States. It was founded in 1970 as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, by leaders of NOW. Muriel Fox was one of its co-founders and an ongoing leader of it. It changed its name to Legal Momentum in 2004. Legal Momentum is a liberal multi-issue organization dedicated to advancing women’s rights across the country. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in Washington, DC that focuses primarily on policy initiatives and legislative issues.

Contents


Major initiatives and involvement

  • Wins Sprogis v. United Airlines (marital status discrimination and age discrimination), 1971.
  • Establishes the Judicial Appointment Project and the National Judicial Education Program to increase the number of female federal judges and eliminate gender bias in the courts, 1978-88. The National Judicial Education Program continues to develop training materials [3] and provide training for judges, prosecutors, and multidisciplinary audiences nationwide in order to improve the handling of sexual assault cases.[4]
  • Wins Tallon v. Liberty Hose, (women as firefighters and gender-bias), 1982.
  • Robinson v. Jacksonville Shipyards (workplace pornography constitutes sexual harassment), 1991 and 1995.
  • Crafts the Violence Against Women Act, 1994, and its 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2013 reauthorizations.
  • Argued United States v. Morrison (concerning the private right of action under the original Violence Against Women's Act, including before the U.S. Supreme Court, 2000
  • Authors and works to enact the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, 1994.
  • Amicus curiae in United States v. Virginia involving the Virginia Military Institute's denial of admission to women, 1996.
  • Founded Women's eNews in 1999 as an online news service highlighting women's issues.
  • Lobbyist in favor of the Child and Dependent Care tax credit, 2001.
  • Apessos v. Memorial Press Group, (employer's discrimination against abuse victim by denying leave from work to obtain protection orders is unlawful), 2002.
  • Amicus curiae in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, 2003.
  • Argued United States v. The City of New York, (interpreting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as applied to welfare recipients), 2004.
  • The National Judicial Education Program (NJEP) posts an extensive online course on an almost invisible issue with critical implications for risk assessment, Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse: Adjudicating This Hidden Dimension of Domestic Violence Cases. Focused on judges but useful for multidisciplinary audiences, the online course is free and open to all, http://www.njep-ipsacourse.org, 2008.
  • Amicus curiae in "U.S. v. Castleman," (gun ownership by convicted domestic abusers), 2014; Supreme Court's opinion cited information from the amicus brief by National Network to End Domestic Violence, Legal Momentum, et al.
  • Amicus curiae in "Young v. UPS," (workplace accommodations for pregnant workers), 2014;

    • Name confusion and notability

    When Legal Momentum changed its name in 2004 it appeared to lose its identity in the eyes of both the non-profit world and the general public, and so hired a marketing firm to address the loss.

    References

    Legal Momentum Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA