; Whereas the Lawyers' Committee and its local affiliates form the largest pro bono civil rights network in the world, working with over 150 national, regional, statewide, and local grassroots organizations and over 150 law firms; Whereas over the past 5 decades, the Lawyers' Committee and its local affiliates have been on the front lines of the struggle for equal justice in the United States and around the world, with notable contributions including— (1) advancing the cause of the civil rights movement by pursuing cases involving voting rights, racial segregation, education, economic justice, fair housing, criminal justice, hate crimes, and more; (2) contributing to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ( 52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.) and the authorization of its subsequent extensions; (3) leading Election Protection, the Nation's oldest and largest nonpartisan voter protection program to ensure greater access to the ballot box for all people of the United States; (4) contributing to the enactment and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act ( 42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.); (5) working to combat the scourge of hate crimes and racially motivated violence impacting communities; (6) joining the movement to end apartheid in the Republic of South Africa by fighting against human rights abuses and representing political dissidents in the courts for more than 30 years and through the open elections in 1994; (7) working to develop and enact the Civil Rights Act of 1991 ( Public Law 102–166 ; 105 Stat. 1071), which advanced the rights of workers in employment discrimination claims; and (8) joining relief efforts during the humanitarian crisis caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 by helping survivors navigate legal matters, including government disaster assistance and insurance claims