Whitney Pellegrino

Whitney Pellegrino advises colleges, universities, K-12 school districts, and other organizations on federal civil rights compliance and represents clients that are facing civil rights investigations, compliance reviews, student and employee complaints, and litigation. Drawing on nearly two decades in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, including service as a senior leader in the Educational Opportunities Section, Whitney’s clients benefit from her firsthand knowledge of how federal agencies open investigations, develop cases, find violations, negotiate settlements, and decide when to litigate.

Building on her years of securing and overseeing large-scale compliance reforms, Whitney counsels organizations on managing change to meet the moment. She regularly helps clients prepare for leadership and Board briefings, engage students and faculty, navigate alumni and donor relationships, and communicate with the public about federal enforcement activity and institutional policies and practices.

Whitney also advises institutions on complex and novel legal questions about schools’ constitutional, statutory, and regulatory obligations across a wide spectrum of issues: antisemitism; DEI and race-conscious programs; admissions, scholarships, and financial aid; sex-separate programs and activities, including facilities; student privacy and parental rights; and religious exercise and accommodations. With her deep subject matter expertise and experience helping institutions find workable and sustainable solutions, Whitney is uniquely positioned to tackle the multitude of enforcement risks they face.

Before joining Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter, Whitney served as Principal Deputy Chief and Acting Chief of the Educational Opportunities Section and helped lead DOJ’s work to combat discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, sex, and disability in educational institutions across the country. Whitney has extensive experience conducting federal investigations, advising agencies on the enforcement of federal funding statutes, and litigating cutting-edge civil rights cases. She also played a substantial role in formulating the federal government’s litigating position on federal civil rights statutes and regulations that apply to schools.

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 in furtherance of civil rights; 2016, 2021, 2024
• Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to the Civil Rights Division; 2012–2014, 2019
• 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
• Special Commendation for outstanding contributions to the 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 of 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. She is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Fourth Circuits and the Supreme Court of the United States.