Equal Justice Under Law (EJUL) is a nonprofit legal organization that opposes money bail and mandatory minimum sentencing and believes that the American legal system is biased against low-income individuals. ¹ One of the group’s founders, Alec Karakatsanis, is the founder and executive director of left-of-center criminal justice policy group Civil Rights Corps. ²

Policy Advocacy

Cash Bail

Equal Justice Under Law strongly opposes money bail, which it calls “wealth-based detention.” The organization has filed successful cases in multiple states to challenge bail laws. ³

In September 2023, EJUL secured a victory in Welchen v. Sacramento with a ruling that no arrestees in Sacramento would be held in jail because they cannot afford their bail amounts and that officials can no longer use their former cash bail policy without making adjustments based on the arrestee’s financial status, flight risk, and public safety. ⁴

Mandatory Minimums

Missouri passed a law in 2022, House Bill 1606, which makes it a crime for people to sleep on public land. EJUL has opposed this law, arguing that it constituted a hateful act towards the homeless, and challenged it in the court case Benson v. Schmitt. ⁵

People

Leadership

Equal Justice Under Law was founded in 2014 by Alec Karakatsanis and Phil Telfeyan. Karakatsanis left the organization in 2016 to become the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, a left-wing criminal justice policy group funded by the Ford Foundation, the Open Philanthropy Project, and Good Ventures. ^{6 7 8} Civil Rights Corps is focused on what it calls “ending the criminalization of poverty,” and supports lawsuits that challenge policies like cash bail. ⁹ Before founding Civil Rights Corps, Karakatsanis was a civil rights lawyer and public defender with the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia and a federal public defender in Alabama. ¹⁰

Phil Telfeyan has been working as the president of the nonprofit since Karakatsanis left. He is also a regional board member for UNICEF. Prior to its founding, Phil served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice where he specialized in immigrants’ rights and employment discrimination. ¹¹

Board of Directors

Rana Kanaan is chair of Equal Justice Under Law. She worked previously as chief executive officer and co-founder at Randevu, a personalized networking platform, and as vice president of product management at Citrix, a virtualization technology company partnered with Microsoft that is valued at over $14 billion. ^{12 13}

Jeff Gould works as the treasurer. He is also a partner at litigation boutique Oppenheim + Zebrak and was also previously a partner at law firm Kirkland and Ellis. ¹⁴

Alfred Baca is a director at EJUL. He previously served as a senior trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section. Baca also served two terms as president of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia (HBA-DC), a nonprofit that advocates for the promotion of Hispanics in legal professions. ¹⁵ HBA-DC supports the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act which seeks to put more restrictions on the police force. ¹⁶

Ralph Baker and Lara Born are also directors at EJUL. Baker is a managing partner at Alight Solutions and Born is an energy specialist at The World Bank. ^{17 18}

Finances

In 2022, Equal Justice Under Law reported over $1.6 million in revenue with 58.8 percent of that revenue coming from public support. The organization received $1,019,041 from public support, which is more than triple the amount it had received in years prior. ¹⁹

EJUL executive director Phil Telfeyan received $174,227 directly from the organization and reported $20,600 from related groups. ¹⁹

Funders

Focus for Health Foundation, a left-of-center private organization, donated a total of $30,000 in 2022. The group gave grants totaling over $1.9 million that year. ²⁰

In 2022, Justice Catalyst donated $100,000 for “support for conducting impact litigation.” ²¹

The Soli Deo Gloria Foundation is a regular funder. It gave a total of $180,000 worth of donations from 2020 to 2022. ^{22 23 24}

1. “Message from the Director.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 9, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/a-message-from-the-director-1.
2.  “Alec Karakatsanis – Founder.” Civil Rights Corps, November 7, 2023. https://civilrightscorps.org/alec-karakatsanis-founder/.
3. “Money Bail.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/money-bail-1.
4. Milwit, Lily. “Victory Brings Halt to Sacramento’s Discriminatory Bail System.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024.  https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/thejusticereport/2023/9/6/victory-brings-halt-to-sacramentos-discriminatory-bail-system.
5.  “Benson v. Schmitt.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/benson-v-schmitt.
6. “Civil Rights Corps.” Ford Foundation. Accessed July 26, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/civil-rights-corps-145095/.
7. “Civil Rights Corps — General Support (2018).” Open Philanthropy. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/civil-rights-corps-general-support-2018/.
8. “Civil Rights Corps – General Support.” Good Ventures. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://www.goodventures.org/our-portfolio/grants/civil-rights-corps-general-support/.
9. “Our Work.” Civil Rights Corps. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://civilrightscorps.org/our-work/.
10.  “ACLU of Minnesota v. Tiza.” ACLU of Minnesota, May 15, 2017. https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/cases/aclu-minnesota-v-tiza-et-al#:~:text=TiZA%20was%20a%20charter%20school%20organized%20under%20Minnesota,the%20State%20of%20Minnesota%20and%20the%20federal%20government.
11. “Phil Telfeyan About.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/phil-telfeyan-about/.
12. ^[1] “Rana Kanaan.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranakanaan.
13. “Citrix Systems’ (CTXS) Net Worth.” Netcials. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://www.netcials.com/financial-net-worth-usa/877890-CITRIX-SYSTEMS-INC/#:~:text=Let%27s%20now%20delve%20into%20the%20most%20recent%20net,SYSTEMS%20for%20Week%2039-2022%20stood%20at%20%2413.275%20Billion.
14. “Jeff Gould About.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/jeff-gould-about.
15. “Alfred Baltazar Baca About.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/alfred-baltazar-baca-about.
16. “2021 Annual Report: THE HISPANIC BAR ASSOCIATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.” ymaws.com. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.hbadc.org/resource/resmgr/annual_reports/2021_annual_report.pdf.
17. “Ralph Baker.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/ralph-baker-about-1.
18. “Lara Born.” Equal Justice Under Law. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/lara-born-about.
19. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer – Equal Justice Under Law 2022 Form 990. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/462209985/202302549349301110/full.
20.  “Focus for Health Inc 2022 Form 990.” GuideStar. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2022/273/400/2022-273400299-202313189349100206-F.pdf?_gl=1*9s2lkg*_gcl_au*MTIyMzkzNjg4Mi4xNzE3NjIxMzg5*_ga*NTUxNDA2MjczLjE3MTc2MjEzOTA.*_ga_5W8PXYYGBX*MTcyMzIxMDcwNy4yOS4wLjE3MjMyMTA3MDcuNjAuMC4w.
21. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer – Justice Catalyst Inc 2022 Form 990. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/814316506/202323179349304882/full.
22. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer – Soli Deo Gloria Foundation 2022 Form 990. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260286564/202311459349100916/full.
23. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer – Soli Deo Gloria Foundation 2021 Form 990. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260286564/202243159349102669/full.
24. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer – Soli Deo Gloria Foundation 2020 Form 990. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260286564/202231129349100503/full.