My name is Amanda Scott Daigle, and I’m a paralegal and writer based in the Washington, DC metro area, with a focus on advancing social and economic justice.
In 2019, I joined the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project in Washington, DC, where I work on voting rights, redistricting and census cases, often representing historically disenfranchised communities of color, public assistance clients, and disabled voters. I have had the opportunity to be the lead paralegal on two U.S. Supreme Court cases, Allen v. Milligan challenging Alabama’s congressional maps for racial gerrymandering, and Trump v. New York opposing the Trump administration’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from congressional apportionment. I also helped our team protect the right to vote by mail during the 2020 elections, winning 28 legal victories in 21 states and Puerto Rico.
From 2018 to 2021, I served on the Montgomery County Committee Against Hate/Violence, which works to address hate crimes and bias incidents against minority groups through community education, advocacy and legislation. My writing has been published in The Washington Post, AL.com, and The Montgomery Advertiser.
I was born and raised in a working-class family in Mobile, Alabama, and I am the first and only college graduate in my family. Homeschooled and self-taught, I earned my GED, graduated summa cum laude from Coastal Alabama Community College with my associate’s degree in paralegal studies, and then received a full scholarship to transfer to Georgetown University where I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in government and history.
At Georgetown, I studied American government and history, and I had the opportunity to do a senior independent study with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Dr. Marcia Chatelain on criminal disenfranchisement laws and systemic racism in the United States. I interned for the Washington, DC Mayor’s Office, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. In my junior year, I won the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a competitive national scholarship for college students planning to go to graduate school and pursue careers in public service. As a senior, I penned my first national op-ed, “We have a right to counsel in criminal cases. Why not in evictions?” for The Washington Post, published on November 6, 2018, both in print and online.
While in Alabama, I founded Mobile Equality, a community organization advocating for the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. We lobbied for a city nondiscrimination ordinance, amending the state’s hate crime law, and protecting and investing in LGBTQ youth. I interned for Legal Services Alabama, the South Alabama Center for Fair Housing, and U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-AL01). I also served on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Alabama from 2014 to 2016, where I had the distinction of being the youngest person elected to the board.
I plan to go to law school and pursue a career as a public interest attorney, and one day I hope to run for public office. I live in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland with my husband Peter and our cat Jack. In my free time, I enjoy reading, film photography, and exploring the Washington, DC metro area, especially Montgomery County, MD.
Publications
“We have a right to counsel in criminal cases. Why not in evictions?”, The Washington Post, November 6, 2018
Education
- Georgetown University, Class of 2019
- Bachelor of Arts, Government and History
- Honors & Awards: Harry S. Truman Scholarship, Senior Convocation Speaker, New Student Convocation Speaker, George Wescott Carey Scholarship, 1789 Scholarship, Dean’s List
- Coastal Alabama Community College, Class of 2016
Work Experience
- Paralegal, American Civil Liberties Union, Voting Rights Project, Washington, DC, July 2019 – Present
- Legal Assistant Trainee, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Voting Section, Washington, DC, August 2017 – August 2018
- L.E.A.D. Intern, Executive Office of the Mayor, Government of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, June 2017 – August 2017
- Legal & Public Policy Intern, American Atheists, Washington, DC, May 2017 – August 2017
- Undergraduate Intern, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Voting Rights Project, Washington, DC, January 2017 – May 2017
- PAC & Legislative Intern, American Humanist Association, Washington, DC, May 2016 – August 2016
- Constituent Services Intern, U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-AL01), U.S. House of Representatives, Mobile, AL, May 2015 – July 2015
- Paralegal Intern, South Alabama Center for Fair Housing, Mobile, AL, May 2015 – August 2015
- Paralegal Intern, Legal Services Alabama, Mobile, AL, January 2015 – May 2015
- Founder & Executive Director, Mobile Equality, Mobile, AL, August 2014 – May 2016
Boards & Committees
- Committee Member, Montgomery County Committee Against Hate/Violence, Rockville, MD, 2018-2021
- Youth Advisory Council Member, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Washington, DC, 2015-2018
- Equity Officer & Board Member, American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, Montgomery, AL, 2014-2016
Volunteer Activities
- Alumni Admissions Interviewer, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 2021-2022
- Clinic Escort & Community Volunteer, Planned Parenthood Southeast, Inc., Mobile, AL, 2015-2016
- Mobile Community Leader & State Volunteer, Human Rights Campaign Alabama, Montgomery, AL, 2014-2016
*Political campaign experience excluded
Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.