Amir Badat serves as Manager of the Voting Rights Defender and Prepared to Vote Projects (VRD/PTV) and Voting Special Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. As Manager of VRD/PTV, Amir leads LDF’s year-round election protection and voter education efforts, using legal, organizing, and advocacy tools to ensure that Black voters across the South have open access to the ballot box. As Voting Special Counsel, Amir uses litigation, legislative, and public education strategies to promote racial justice in area of political participation. Amir is part of the litigation team in Houston Area Urban League v. Abbott, a case challenging Texas’s enactment of an omnibus voter suppression bill following the historic participation of Black voters in the 2020 general election.

Prior to LDF, Amir was an associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, LLP, where he focused on complex commercial litigation and maintained an active pro bono practice, representing clients seeking asylum in the United States, restoration of their right to work, and access to police bodycam footage. At Patterson, Amir represented multiple cross-faith coalitions of religious entities submitting amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts combating religious discrimination, challenging attempts to repeal DACA, supporting protections for LGBTQ+ individuals against employment discrimination, and opposing the diversion of funds to build a border wall.

Amir has extensive experience in the voting rights and voter protection space. He has led state-wide voter protection programs and coordinated voter protection efforts for national campaigns.

Amir served as a law clerk to the Honorable Vernon S. Broderick on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A native of Meridian, MS, Amir received his J.D., cum laude, from New York University School of Law and his B.A. from Stanford University with honors in International Relations. He is a member of the New York State Bar.