Fall 2027 Fellowship Sponsorship, Disability Rights Program

ABOUT THE JOB The ACLU invites rising third-year law students and law graduates to apply for a sponsorship opportunity to work with us as a Legal Fellow for up to one/ two year(s) . The Disability Rights Program of the National office in San Francisco, CA or Washington, D.C. seeks applicants to consider for a sponsored fellowship such as Equal Justice Works or other public interest fellowships to begin in the fall of 2027. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. OVERVIEW The ACLU invites rising third-year law students and law graduates to apply for a sponsorship opportunity to work with us as a Legal Fellow for up to two years. The Disability Rights Program of the National office in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California seeks applicants to consider for a sponsored fellowship such as Skadden, Equal Justice Works, or other public interest fellowships to begin in the fall of 2027. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. The Disability Rights Program’s mission is to achieve an America free of discrimination against people with disabilities; where people with disabilities are valued, integrated members of society who have full access to education, homes, health care, jobs, families, voting, and civic engagement. We fight to ensure that people with disabilities are no longer segregated into, and over-represented in, civil and criminal institutions such as nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, jails, and prisons. The ACLU has fought for decades for the rights of people with disabilities—achieving key wins to stop coerced mental health treatment and unnecessary institutionalization, as well as playing a role in the drafting of the ADA. In 2012, the ACLU established the Disability Rights Project. DRP litigates and advocates to use disability rights laws to end the overrepresentation of people with disabilities in the criminal legal system, including pursuing first of its kind litigation to ensure that municipalities provide trained, non-police responders to people experiencing mental health crises. We also litigate and advocate to promote alternatives to guardianship and to secure equal access to the ballot. We also provide support to affiliates and the National office on disability rights issues that intersect with core civil liberties. While the ACLU’s Legal Department is headquartered in New York, the Disability Rights Program is housed in the San Francisco and Washington, D.C. offices, and fellowship candidates may be based in either location. We will review applications on a rolling basis, but priority consideration will be given to those who submit applications by July 01, 2026 . This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU). WHAT YOU'LL DO Reporting to the Project Director, the Fellow will develop and pursue a litigation and advocacy project at the intersection of disability rights and civil liberties. We are particularly interested in Fellowship projects that aim to: 1) challenge discrimination against people with disabilities in emergency response programs and services; 2) increase access to treatment and harm reduction services for people with substance use disorders; 3) challenge efforts to involuntarily treat and institutionalize people with disabilities, such as those stemming from recent executive orders that encourage involuntary commitment of unhoused disabled veterans and people with substance use disorders; 4) challenge school policing and disciplinary practices that discriminate against students with disabilities; or 5) use disability rights laws to challenge voter suppression and make voting more accessible to people with disabilities. However, we are also open to other project proposals. The Fellow will work closely with DRP to craft their project proposal, and to implement their project. However, we are also open to o