Whitney Pellegrino

Whitney Pellegrino is an expert in civil rights issues in education. She provides specialized and strategic legal counsel for colleges, universities, K-12 schools, and other institutional clients navigating federal government investigations, high-profile civil rights complaints, and civil rights and other constitutional litigation. She helps clients proactively manage their legal obligations and brings subject matter expertise to clients at all stages of litigation related to federal enforcement of civil and constitutional rights.  

In investigations, client counseling, and litigation, Whitney routinely navigates complex legal questions and issues of first impression about schools’ obligations with respect to Title IX, Title VI, the First Amendment, parental rights, due process, religious accommodations, social media, and Greek Life, among other pressing issues. With her deep subject matter expertise and experience helping schools find workable solutions to complex problems, Whitney is uniquely positioned to tackle the multitude of civil rights issues that threaten her clients’ mission, reputation, and financial integrity.  

In addition to representing educational institutions, Whitney also represents individuals in education and employment matters and offers co-counsel and expert consultant services and training to offices of State Attorneys General, law firms, and other legal organizations and nonprofits working on education-related investigations and litigation.

Prior to joining Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter, Whitney was the Principal Deputy Chief of the Educational Opportunities Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. As the second ranking education attorney in the Civil Rights Division, Whitney led DOJ’s work to combat discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, sex, and disability in educational institutions across the country. She played a substantial role in formulating the federal government’s litigating position on federal civil rights statutes and regulations that apply to schools, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. Whitney has decades of experience conducting DOJ investigations, advising federal agencies on enforcement of federal funding statutes, and litigating cutting-edge civil rights cases for the federal government. 

Whitney graduated magna cum laude from Oberlin College and received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review. 

• John R. Dunne Award for exceptional accomplishments to the furtherance of civil rights; 2016, 2021, 2024 
• Assistant Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to the Civil Rights Division; 2012-14, 2019
• Civil Rights Division’s Special Achievement Award for exemplary service to the Department of Justice’s civil rights mission; 2008-2009, 2011, 2018 
• James R. Douglass Award for improving the work-life of LGBT employees; 2017 
• Civil Rights Division’s Special Commendation for outstanding contributions to mission of the Educational Opportunities Section; 2010

• Represented the United States in multiple higher education investigations involving allegations of sexual misconduct by athletic department employees. Successfully negotiated out-of-court settlement agreements that delivered forward-looking systemic reforms to ensure civil rights compliance; restored institutional trust with students, employees, and alumni; and provided concrete remedial measures to affected students.
• Supervised coordination with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country on education-related civil rights investigations and litigation.
• Represented the United States in United States v. State of North Carolina, et al. (W.D.N.C.), a first-of-its kind multi-party litigation involving claims under Title IX, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to challenge a state law banning transgender students from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
• Successfully renegotiated a decades-old, multi-party consent decree in Congress of Hispanic Educators & U.S. v. Denver Public Schools to ensure that English learner students have the opportunity to overcome language barriers and to participate meaningfully in the District’s education programs and activities.
• Served as lead counsel in many desegregation cases to deliver on the promises of Brown v. Board of Education, including United States v. Lowndes County School District (N.D. Miss.) and United States v. Barnwell County School District (D.S.C.) where the United States challenged entrenched racial inequities in access to advanced coursework and the discriminatory application student codes of conduct. Represented the United States at hearings and monitored implementation of remedial action leading to the termination of Federal oversight in both cases.

Whitney is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland, and is admitted to practice in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.