It’s not every day that students are able to meet with litigators who have argued in front of the United States Supreme Court, but on November 30 an alumnus of the college gave one class that chance. Debo Adegbile ’91 spoke of his experiences as a Conn student, a law student at NYU, an associate at a top Manhattan firm, and as the Director of Litigation at the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), his current position.
In April of this year, Adegbile appeared before the highest court in the nation to argue against a challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), a piece of legislative victory for the Civil Rights Movement that expanded minority suffrage dramatically and voting participation in general by monitoring poll practices and requiring states that meet certain criteria to get preapproval to alter their voting laws.
The case, Northwest Austin Municipal District v. Holder, resulted in Section 5, the portion of the VRA in question, being upheld in an 8 to 1 decision. Even conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, once vocally opposed to the VRA when he worked under Reagan, voted after Adegbile’s argument to keep the Act intact.
The young lawyer from the Bronx’s career path began on this arboreal campus. Reminiscing before Frasure’s current Constitutional Law students, Adegbile described playing soccer for the camels and his dream of one day being a professional striker. But his choice to take a class with government professor William Frasure in his sophomore year altered his plans.
In order to remain in Frasure’s Law and Public Policy course, Adegbile once had to write three papers in one night, but he decided it was worth it. Frasure was impressed with his work, and took Adegbile aside after class one day. If you really focus and work hard, the professor told his student, everything he sought, he could achieve.
One student in the class, Kris Fleming ’11 said of Adegbile, “His visit to Conn was a way to show how successful the alumni are.” The NAACP lawyer had mentioned choosing to take a pay cut to move into nonprofit legal work, but Fleming was impressed by Adegbile’s drive.
“I think that his working for the NAACP is better than working at some big shot law firm. It’s impressive that the school can produce such a prestigious individual,” Fleming said. He appreciated Adegbile’s ability to blend humor with his storytelling and legal acumen, and found the visit to be “inspirational.”
Professor Frasure said, “I was spellbound by Debo’s presentation in our class. I had listened to the tape of his oral argument at the Supreme Court last year. I have to say it’s quite an experience to hear a former student dazzle the justices the way Debo did.”
Adegbile spoke to the class of how he used his time in front of the Court, anticipating each justice’s interest, concerns and votes.
The litigator concentrated his efforts on convincing those on the fence—“the vote in play,” he said, “was Anthony Kennedy’s. When we went to the Supreme Court, we knew that this was a very conservative court.”
“You don’t want to engage with the justices whose votes you cannot get.”
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF), a separate arm of the NAACP, prepared research on the VRA and related legal cases for years. Though Adegbile and his colleagues were prepared to discuss all the legal challenges to the Act, in the end the justices were more interested in policy than precedent.
“The LDF brief,” Adegbile explained with pride, “was the main one cited.
“To be in an argument where the court knew the record so well, it was phenomenal. It was very impressive.”
Adegbile pursued this branch of legal work because of the real and tangible effects it has. Defending the Voting Rights Act was important because “Section 5 was a game changer.”
For the first time, “it put the burden jurisdictions to show that they didn’t have a discriminatory effect.”
In enacting this Act, Congress provided an incentive not to discriminate, and this advanced equality.
Some claim the Act is outdated, but Adegbile warned that voting conditions are not yet equitable for some Americans. “Even in the Obama age, there is not as much of a new voting pattern as some might have hoped.”
Adegbile ended with advice for Conn students. “Be hungry,” he said. “Bear down.
“Sit there and be humble and you might learn something.”
The work pays off when the spirit of the Constitution is carried out in law; three states under the ruling of the Voting Rights Act have written briefs stating their gratitude for the measure.
“It helps them effectuate the Fifteenth Amendment,” Adegbile said.
Photo by Brandon Mosley
