Civil Rights Division

The Civil Rights Division, established in 1957, is the part of the U.S. Department of Justice "responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin." [1]

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Focus Shift

"Nearly 20 percent of the division's lawyers left in fiscal 2005, in part because of a buyout program that some lawyers believe was aimed at pushing out those who did not share the administration's conservative views on civil rights laws," Dan Eggen wrote November 13, 2005, in the Washington Post. "Longtime litigators complain that political appointees have cut them out of hiring and major policy decisions, including approvals of controversial GOP redistricting plans in Mississippi and Texas."

"At the same time, prosecutions for the kinds of racial and gender discrimination crimes traditionally handled by the division have declined 40 percent over the past five years, according to department statistics. Dozens of lawyers find themselves handling appeals of deportation orders and other immigration matters instead of civil rights cases," Eggen wrote.

"Justice spokesman Eric Holland noted that the overall attrition rate during the Bush administration, about 13 percent, is not significantly higher than the 11 percent average during the last five years under President Bill Clinton," Eggen wrote.

Overview

See Civil Rights Division Activities and Programs (2006 Edition).

Personnel

• Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General (bio)

Contact Information

Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
1425 New York Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20035
Web: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy
• civil liberties
• electoral fraud
• Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1592)
• Ralph F. Boyd Jr. (former Assistant Attorney General)
• trafficking in human beings
• Voting Rights Act of 1965 (re renewal)

External links

Profiles

• United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in the Wikipedia.

Reports

• "The Right-Wing Affiliations of Bush Administration Officials," People for the American Way.
• "Civil Rights Enforcement by Bush Administration Lags," TRAC Report, 2004.
• "Under Color of Law," TRAC Report, 2004.
• Draft Report: "Redefining Rights in America The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration, 2001–2004," U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Office of Civil Rights Evaluation, September 2004.
• "Study Shows Flaws in Justice Department Tracking of its Own Civil Rights Enforcement," TRAC Report, 2005.
• William Taylor, Dianne Piché, Crystal Rosario and Joe Rich eds., "The Erosion of Rights: Declining Civil Rights Enforcement Under the Bush Administration (Chapters 1 and 2)," Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights (web), March 21, 2007; 118-page pdf link from Center for American Progress.

Statements & Testimony

• "Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee, On Department Of Justice Civil Rights Division Oversight," November 16, 2006.
• Testimony: "Changing Tides: Exploring the Current State of Civil Rights Enforcement within the Department of Justice" by Joseph D. Rich, Director, Fair Housing Project, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, before House Committee on the Judiciary, March 22, 2007.

Articles & Commentary

2002

• John J. Miller, "Fort Liberalism: Can Justice's civil rights division be Bushified?" National Review (FindArticles.com), May 6, 2002.

2003

• Kevin Bohn, "Patriot Act report documents civil rights complaints," CNN, July 31, 2003.
• Julian Borger, "Fury at Bush's Civil Rights Policing of Abortion Ban. Supreme Court Showdown Likely Over Measure to Outlaw Partial-birth Terminations," Guardian Unlimited (UK) (Common Dreams), November 8, 2003.
• Shannon McCaffrey, "Justice Dept.'s Civil Rights Division Retreating from Activist Roots," Knight-Ridder Newspapers (Common Dreams), November 21, 2003.

2005

• William R. Yeomans, "An Uncivil Division. Political appointees to the Justice Department's civil rights division are driving career lawyers to retirement—then skipping the retirement parties," Legal Affairs, September/October 2005.
• Dan Eggen, "Civil Rights Focus Shift Roils Staff At Justice. Veterans Exit Division as Traditional Cases Decline," Washington Post, November 12, 2005.
• Dan Eggen, "Criticism of Voting Law Was Overruled. Justice Dept. Backed Georgia Measure Despite Fears of Discrimination," Washington Post, November 17, 2005.
• Dan Eggen, "Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal. Voting Rights Finding On Map Pushed by DeLay Was Overruled," Washington Post, December 2, 2005.
• Dan Eggen, "Staff Opinions Banned In Voting Rights Cases. Criticism of Justice Dept.'s Rights Division Grows," Washington Post, December 20, 2005.

Repent America

• Ron Strom, "U.S. attorneys complicit in arrest of Christians? Source says homosexual government lawyers advised Philadelphia police at 'OutFest' event," WorldNetDaily, January 5, 2005.
• Jim Brown and Jody Brown, "Report Says Homosexual DOJ Lawyers Complicit in Arrest of Christians. Philadelphia Family Advocate Blames Local Clergy, Politicians for Hostile Environment," AgapePress (archived) (Crosswalk (archived)), January 5, 2005.
• "Report Says Homosexual DOJ Lawyers Complicit in Arrest of Christians," The Conservative Voice (archived), January 6, 2005.
• Press Release: "Report says homosexual U.S. attorneys complicit in arrest of Christians," American Family Association (archived), January 6, 2005.
• "Report Says Homosexual U.S. Attorneys Complicit in 'Frightening' Charges Against Christian Protesters," LifeSiteNews.com (archived), January 7, 2005.
• "Christian Group Charged With Hate Crime. Prosecutors Say Group Tried To Incite Riot At Gay Gathering," NBC10.com (Philadelphia), January 10, 2005.
• "Coalition Requests DOJ Investigation of Its Attorneys at Philadelphia Homosexual Event. Were They Acting as DOJ Officials or Homosexual Activists?" Christian Wire Service / Traditional Values Coalition (archived), January 11, 2005.

2006

• Dan Eggen, "Politics Alleged In Voting Cases. Justice Officials Are Accused of Influence," Washington Post, January 23, 2006.
• Duke Falconer, "Who Really Stalled the Voting Rights Act Renewal," ePluribus Media, July 12, 2006.
• Charlie Savage, "Civil rights hiring shifted in Bush era. Conservative leanings stressed," Boston Globe (truthout), July 23, 2006.
• Charlie Savage, "Democrats pledge to scrutinize Justice's civil rights arm," Boston Globe, November 17, 2006.

2007

• Press Release: "DOJ Fact Sheet: Civil Rights Division Efforts to Combat Modern-Day Slavery," PRNewswire/USNewswire, January 31, 2007.
• Greg Gordon, Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor, "U.S. attorney probe raises civil rights issues. Focus on voter fraud under Bush may be partisan, critics say," McClatchy Newspapers (Sacremento Bee), March 24, 2007.
• Tom Hamburger, "Justice Department tugged to the right. Under Bush, the department has been tainted by politics, many say," Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2007.
• Tyler Lewis, "Oversight Hearing Addresses Politicization of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division," civilrights.org, March 28, 2007.
• Joseph D. Rich, Opinion: "Bush's long history of tilting Justice. The administration began skewing federal law enforcement before the current U.S. attorney scandal, says a former Department of Justice lawyer," Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2007.
• Alia Malek, "Bush's Long History of Politicizing Justice," Salon (Der Spiegel (Germany)), March 30, 2007.
• "Deterioration of Civil Rights Under Bush: Editors of the 'Erosion of Rights' Report Testify," Center for American Progress, April 3, 2007.
• R. Neal, "Politicizing civil rights enforcement," Institute for Southern Studies, April 5, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, "Under Bush, Civil Rights Division Works to Protect... Whites," TPMmuckraker, April 6, 2007.
• Dahlia Lithwick, Opinion: "Justice's Holy Hires," Washington Post, April 8, 2007.
• Cho, StandingUp, Aaron Barlow & Roxy, "The Voting Rights Act, Voter Disfranchisement and the Tail Wagging the Dog," ePluribus Media, April 15, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, "Inside The Bush DoJ's Purge of The Civil Rights Division," TPMmuckraker, April 17, 2007.
• Greg Gordon, "Campaign against alleged voter fraud fuels political tempest," McClatchy Newspapers, April 19, 2007.
• Amanda Terkel, "Court Rules Against Bush Administration: DoJ Failed To Show ‘That Any Voter Fraud Occurred’," Think Progress, April 19, 2007.
• "Ex-Justice Dept. Attorneys Accuse Bush Admin of Restricting African American Vote to Favor Republicans," Democracy Now!, April 24, 2007.
• Paul Shukovsky, Tracy Johnson and Daniel Lathrop, "FBI opening far fewer civil rights inquiries. Terrorism supersedes hate crimes, police abuse," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 25, 2007.
• Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein, "Political Appointees No Longer to Pick Justice Interns," Washington Post, April 28, 2007.
• Publius Revolts, "DOJ Civil Rights Lawyer Receives Cash Award for Suppressing Minority Voters," ePluribus Media, April 28, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, "Controversial USA Delivered 'Voter Fraud' Indictments Right on Time," TPMmuckraker, May 1, 2007.
• Greg Gordon, "2006 Missouri's election was ground zero for GOP," McClatchy Newspapers, May 2, 2007.
• Amanda Terkel, "Boehner: Protecting People Against Hate Crimes ‘Takes Us Down A Path That Is Very Scary’," Think Progress, May 3, 2007.
• Roberta Baskin, "Too Few Minorities in DOJ's Civil Rights Division? Critics Say Justice Department's Recent Hires Aren't Diverse Enough," ABC News, May 4, 2007.
• "I-Team: Justice Attorneys," WJLA.com ABC 7 News, May 4, 2007.
• Charlie Savage, "Missouri attorney a focus in firings. Senate bypassed in appointment of Schlozman," Boston Globe, May 6, 2007.
• Murray Waas, "The Scales of Justice," National Journal, May 31, 2007.

2008

• Murray Waas, "Justice Department Subpoenas Its Former Lawyers in Civil Rights Probe," Huffington Post, August 6, 2008.