Tom Perez: Civil Rights Division Has New ‘Agenda of Restoration and Revitalization’
Yesterday, the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held its first oversight hearing of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice since President Obama took office in January to look at how the new administration is planning to reform the division.
The hearing coincided with the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that examines the division’s civil rights enforcement record under the Bush administration. The GAO report provides further evidence that the division under the Bush administration was politicized, and as a result, enforcement suffered, particularly in the areas of voting rights, housing, and employment.
The Civil Rights Division has widely been considered the premier civil rights enforcement agency, as it handled most federal anti-discrimination litigation. However, in recent years, the division has been plagued by controversy over political interference in its hiring policies. The Leadership Conference and other civil rights groups that monitor the division have expressed concern about its inadequate enforcement of civil rights laws as well.
Tom Perez, the new head of the Civil Rights Division, also testified at the hearing. The Leadership Conference strongly supported Perez’ confirmation, calling him the “right person” to restore the division to its former status as the nation’s premier civil rights enforcement agency.
Perez has introduced an “agenda of restoration and revitalization” for the division, which includes revamping the rules for hiring career attorneys, revitalizing enforcement across the board, and vigorously enforcing its new mandate under the recently passed hate crimes law.
“Establishing a Civil Rights Division for the 21st century,” Perez said, “requires restoring and transforming the division – not in an effort to recreate the Civil Rights Division of an earlier era, but rather to prepare ourselves to tackle the challenges before us today, and to ensure we are nimble enough to address the challenges on the horizon.”