Blog of Rights
Deborah J.
Vagins

Deborah Vagins is senior legislative counsel at the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. She leads the Washington Legislative Office’s civil rights advocacy efforts and develops pro-active strategies on pending federal legislation and executive branch actions concerning racial justice, education, employment discrimination, voting rights, and disability rights. Vagins has been instrumental in advocating for major civil rights legislation, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 and the 2006 Voting Rights Act reauthorization, among others..

 

Before joining the ACLU in 2005, Vagins served as the acting deputy general counsel and senior attorney-advisor to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Prior to that, Vagins was an associate at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, where she litigated high-profile nationwide civil rights class actions. She represented more than 1.5 million women from Wal-Mart in the largest Title VII employment discrimination class action in history. She was also an associate at Sidley & Austin in the civil, criminal and constitutional litigation practice group and founded the firm’s Committee for the Recruitment and Retention of Women. Earlier Vagins worked at EMILY’s List and clerked at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. Vagins graduated magna cum laude from the Washington College of Law at American University. She received her B.A. with distinction from Swarthmore College.

 


 

10/28/2011

Leaving Women Out in the Cold

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:02am

This week, the ACLU called on Baltimore City to stop leaving women out in the cold. Literally. When the city’s only emergency homeless shelter is full, it provides “overflow” shelter beds to men — and not women. Turned away, single women seeking shelter have been left to fend for themselves, sleeping in parking lots and backyards, where they face exposure to the elements and have fallen victim to physical and sexual assaults.

Read More»
09/27/2011
Corporal Punishment in Schools

Making School a Safe Place for All Students

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:35am

In 19 states across the country, corporal punishment in schools is still legal. Sadly, in many states, children are better protected against physical discipline in detention facilities than they are in their own classrooms. That fact is a startling reminder that for the many children subjected to corporal punishment or the threat of it every day, school does not feel like a safe place.

Most Americans agree that corporal punishment in our schools is unacceptable. A recent poll indicates that only 23 percent of Americans approve of teachers using corporal punishment on our children. And yet, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, over 200,000 students are the victims of this practice every year.

Read More»
09/09/2011
Voter ID

Fundamental Injustice: Voter Suppression Threatens Democracy

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Georgeanne M. Usova, Washington Legislative Office at 2:28pm

Sen. Dick Durbin calls the recent rash of state voter suppression efforts, "a threat to our democracy." Yesterday he held a hearing on this disturbing trend at which the ACLU submitted a statement for the record.

In recent months, state legislatures across the nation have erected new barriers to the ballot through the passage of a range of highly restrictive voter suppression laws. Regressive measures were introduced in more than 30 states, and thirteen states proceeded to adopt new or expanded barriers to voting.

Read More»
07/19/2011
Excessive Force

Turning a Blind Eye: The Human Rights Crisis in Puerto Rico

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:26pm

Today, there are American citizens who are being assaulted by police during peaceful protests, but you likely have heard very little about it. The Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD), the second largest police department in the country, is out of control, with a broken and inadequate system for investigating, or even recording, acts of severe police brutality — including lethal force — perpetrated against the communities it is meant to protect. While all of this is occurring in the public eye, none of it is making headlines.

Read More»
06/10/2011
Equal Pay Act

The Equal Pay Act: You've Come a Long Way, Baby (But Not All the Way)

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Georgeanne M. Usova, Washington Legislative Office at 10:43am

In 1963, we could have only dreamed of a woman with a realistic shot at the White House, or a female Speaker of the House or Secretary of State. There were no women heading Fortune 500 companies, jetting into space, or sitting on the Supreme Court. The average women had limited educational opportunities and very few career options, and in the jobs they had, on average, they still only made 60 cents on the dollar that men did.

Read More»
04/12/2011

A Crisis Averted?

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:12pm

Today, April 12, 2011, is Equal Pay Day – the day into 2011 that a woman has to work, on average, to make the same as a man did in just 2010 alone. As I write on this year’s Equal Pay Day, I cannot help but reflect on the fact that only a few days ago we avoided a government shutdown just in the nick of time. An estimated 800,000 federal workers would have been affected by the shutdown—leaving many incredibly worried, particularly about what that meant for their pay. Living in Washington, D.C., there was a lot of talk about getting by with less and how to manage if income was reduced. The stress over the possibility of not getting paychecks was palpable. However, just a few minutes before midnight last Friday, a collective sigh of relief rolled over this city, when a deal was struck.

Read More»
03/09/2011

New White House Report Reaffirms Need for Paycheck Fairness Act

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Georgeanne M. Usova, Washington Legislative Office at 5:19pm

Last week, the White House Council on Women and Girls released a landmark report on the state of women in the U.S. that has been called the most comprehensive report of its kind in nearly five decades. Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well Being compiles data from a variety of sources to show how women's lives are changing across the nation. The White House gathered statistics on a wide variety of topics, including health, education, employment and more.

Read More»
01/14/2011

The Whole Constitution — Without Holes

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 1:56pm

Clashing perceptions of our Constitution last week led to dissonant messages about the importance of defending our founding charter. The new 112th Congress kicked off the session with a reading of the document in the House of Representatives, a laudable expression of fidelity to first principles of American law and government. Describing the impetus behind the House's homage, Speaker John Boehner said that a core theme of his tenure will be "respecting the Constitution." We commend showing respect for the Constitution and hope that both parties will work to uphold the whole document.

Read More»
11/19/2010

A Sad Day for Equal Pay, But Not the End

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:37pm

In a disappointing stand against women's equality, on Wednesday the Senate voted 58-41 against cloture for the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 3772), stopping the bill from moving forward and effectively denying women the necessary legal tools to fight for equal pay. Although a majority of the Senate supported this measure, it fell just two votes shy of the 60 votes necessary to defeat a filibuster, dooming the bill for this Congress. Unfortunately, a minority of the Senate was able to successfully block an opportunity to afford women the most basic of protections — a safety net against egregious discrimination in the workplace. The American Civil Liberties Union cochaired a national coalition of civil rights, women's rights, labor, faith-based and business groups, all of whom strongly supported the Paycheck Fairness Act as a vital protection against gender-based pay discrimination.

Read More»
09/15/2010

Time's Running Out to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act -- Contact Your Senator Today!

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:40pm

Call, email and tweet your senator today. As the clock ticks down in the 111th Congress, there is little time left to finish critical pieces of legislation.

Read More»
Statistics image