Summer 2025 Legal Internship, Voting Rights Project

The ACLU seeks a Legal Intern in the Voting Rights Project of the ACLU’s National office in Washington, D.C. (with a focus on the National Voter Registration Act)

 

The Team:

The ACLU Voting Rights Project was established in 1965 – the same year that the historic Voting Rights Act (VRA) was enacted – and has litigated more than 400 cases since that time. Its mission is to build and defend an accessible, inclusive, and equitable democracy free from racial discrimination. We have three guiding principles: (1) all Americans should be eligible to vote; (2) voting should be free and easy; and (3) all people should count equally. The Project is litigation-focused, with active cases across the country, though it helps support legislative advocacy work and public education. The Voting Rights Project’s recent docket has included more than 40 lawsuits to protect voters during the 2020 and 2024 elections; a pair of recent cases in the Supreme Court challenging the last administration’s discriminatory census policies: Department of Commerce v. New York (successfully challenging an attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census) and Trump v. New York (challenging the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the population count used to apportion the House of Representatives); challenges to voter purges and documentary proof of citizenship laws; challenges to other new legislation restricting voting rights in states like Georgia, Montana, and Texas; and challenges to unfair redistricting plans in state likes Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Mississippi. The Project also helps support voting rights litigation brought by ACLU affiliates across the country.  

What You'll Do:

Interns provide critical support to our team in litigation and other forms of advocacy. In the recent past, interns have served as integral members on our teams doing election protection work and litigating redistricting cases and several of our COVID-19 cases, pushing back against the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, working to prevent the Florida legislature from imposing financial barriers that would undermine voter-approved Amendment 4, which re-enfranchised many citizens with felony convictions, and helping to investigate and initiate redistricting litigation. 

Our team in Washington, D.C. focuses specifically on litigation under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA is a law that enables eligible voters to simultaneously register to vote when they apply for, or renew, a drivers' license; offers voter registration opportunities in public assistance and disability services agencies; and improves mail-in voter registration application opportunities. One intern will be focused specifically on the NVRA and be based in Washington, D.C. with the option to work on a hybrid basis or remotely. Please specify in your cover letter if you are interested in being considered for our NVRA internship, our general VRP internship based in New York, or both.   

 

Your Day to Day: 

• Conduct legal research and analysis to support new and active litigation projects    

• Aid in drafting of legal memoranda, pleadings, affidavits, motions, and briefs    

• Draft and edit public education and non-litigation advocacy materials    

• Provide support and assistance to ACLU affiliates and cooperating attorneys    

• Potential to work closely with clients and participate in outreach with impacted communities, discovery, and trial practice    

 

What You'll Bring: 

The internship is open to students who are in law school who have completed their 1L year or are in an LLM program. Interns should possess the following:   

• Completion of 1L year of law school by summer 2025 or enrollment in an LLM program  

• Excellent research skills, including conducting internet and legal database research   

• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and writing   

• Attention to detail, excellent organizing and time-management skills   

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite   

• The initiative to see projects through to completion   

• Demonstrated commitment to public interest law, civil liberties, and racial justice   

• Demonstrated ability to conduct complex legal analysis and fact finding   

Preferred Qualifications 

• Demonstrated interest in voting rights work   

• Familiarity with or previous experience working on voting rights issues   

Internship Logistics:

• Location: Our internship program offers a limited number of in-person, remote, or hybrid intern positions. Three internships are remote or hybrid from our New York National Office. One position will be remote or hybrid with our team in Washington, D.C. which focuses specifically on implementing the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). 

• Time Commitment: This internship requires a full-time commitment of 35 hours per week. 

• Internship Duration: Part-time internships span 12 consecutive weeks and full-time internships 10 weeks. This internship has a start date of: May 27 or June 9, 2025. 

• Stipend: A stipend is available for those students who are lawfully authorized to work. Arrangements can be made with educational institutions for work/study or course credit. Below is the stipend breakdown: 

• • $20/hour for undergraduate students or equivalent experience
  • $24/hour for graduate and law students or equivalent experience 

Priority Application Deadline: October 25, 2024

While there is a priority deadline, our project is committed to review all applications on a rolling basis until the closing of posting.

Applications should include:  

• Cover letter discussing your qualifications and your commitment to racial and social justice; and  

• Current resume  

If selected for an interview, we may request a legal writing sample. You may optionally submit a writing sample alongside your cover letter.   

ABOUT THE ACLU

The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union – beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees. For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach. 

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency, and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

 

Why the ACLU:

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy

protections for our digital age or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

Our Commitment to Accessibility, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion:

Accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. 

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email benefits.hrdept@aclu.org. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.