Fall 2027 Marvin M. Karpatkin Fellowship, Racial Justice Program

The ACLU seeks applicants for the Karpatkin Fellowship, a full-time, two-year fellowship in the Racial Justice Program (RJP) of the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month.

The Racial Justice Program (RJP) is part of the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality. The Trone Center works to combat racial discrimination; to ensure that our criminal justice system is fair, and free of racial bias; to advocate for humane and constitutional conditions of confinement; and to abolish the death penalty as a legitimate form of punishment. The Trone Center for Justice and Equality also includes the Criminal Law Reform Project, Capital Punishment Project, and the National Prison Project. 

Often working with the ACLU’s 53 affiliates and chapters nationwide, RJP uses litigation, legislative advocacy and public education to challenge government and private sector attacks on educational, public health, housing, and employment equity initiatives. We also challenge a range of discriminatory criminal legal system practices that unfairly disadvantage communities of color, and work to ensure robust civil rights enforcement in the use of new technologies, including artificial intelligence. 

During the fellowship, fellows have opportunities to work with colleagues within RJP and across the ACLU’s 53 affiliates and chapters in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. They will receive mentorship from ACLU staff attorneys, attend specialized trainings focused on improving substantive legal skills and strategic decision-making for legal work, and collaborate with others across the legal department through internal community building convenings. Past fellows have gone on to play important roles in civil rights and civil liberties work at the ACLU, in other leading social justice organizations, in the judiciary, in academia and in government.  

The Karpatkin Fellowship was established by the ACLU Board of Directors in memory of Marvin M. Karpatkin, the late General Counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, who died in January 1975, at the age of 48. Mr. Karpatkin was one of the ACLU's most active attorneys during the 1960s and early 1970s. He left his special mark in the areas of selective service and military law. His interest in those areas grew out of his own strong opposition to the Vietnam War and his desire to help those who, younger than himself, were faced with performing military service in a war they would not support.  

Reporting to the Deputy Project Director, the Karpatkin Fellow will be a core member of a collaborative, dedicated team working to advance the ACLU’s racial justice work.  

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until September 6, 2026.