SIOUX FALLS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - South Dakota), published as received.

SIOUX FALLS - Earlier this week, Alison J. Ramsdell, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota, joined more than two dozen other U.S. Attorneys from across the country as a delegation to commemorate the 58th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” the March over Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Ramsdell has served as a member of the Attorney General Advisory Committee’s (AGAC) Civil Rights Subcommittee since her appointment in April 2022.

“It was an honor to join colleagues from across the United States to commemorate a turning point in the civil rights movement that gave rise to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” said U.S. Attorney Ramsdell. “The Department of Justice was founded to ensure the protection of civil rights, including the right to vote, and that objective remains one of our sacred missions here in the District of South Dakota and across the country.”

In addition to participating in the March over the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday, March 5th, the delegation met with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and held other meetings with community and civil rights leaders.

  • The group met with distinguished jurist Myron Thompson. As former Chief Judge in the Middle District of Alabama, Judge Thompson was instrumental in preserving the Montgomery bus station where the Freedom Riders were attacked in 1961.
  • The group met with Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit that provides legal representation to people who have been wrongly convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons.
  • The attorneys heard from The Johnson Institute in the federal courthouse where many key civil rights cases were decided. Through its programming, The Johnson Institute demonstrates the importance of the U.S. Constitution and an independent judiciary.
  • The U.S. Attorneys visited The Legacy Museum and the Memorial for Peace and Justice, which provide a comprehensive history of racial injustice. 

The U.S. Attorneys from the following districts also attended the Selma and Montgomery events: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Western and Middle Districts of Louisiana, Eastern District of Wisconsin, Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, Middle District of Florida, Northern and Eastern Districts of California, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Western District of Virginia, Western District of North Carolina, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern District of New York, and Southern District of West Virginia. The delegation was hosted by the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, and organized by U.S. Attorneys Nick Brown and Rachael Rollins.

The Attorney General’s Advisory Committee was established nearly 50 years ago by Attorney General Elliott Richardson. The Committee’s purpose is to give U.S. Attorneys a voice in Department policies and to advise the Attorney General of the United States.

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