Justice Department to Recharge Civil Rights Enforcement

[babylonsister]

Still cleaning up the big messes...

Justice Department to Recharge Civil Rights Enforcement


By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: August 31, 2009


Seth Wenig/Associated Press
“I think the wounds that were inflicted on this division were deep, and it will take some time for them to fully heal,” said Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.


WASHINGTON — Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life, including voting rights, housing, employment, bank lending practices and redistricting after the 2010 census.

As part of this shift, the Obama administration is planning a major revival of high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies, in areas ranging from housing to hiring, where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly. President George W. Bush’s appointees had discouraged such tactics, preferring to focus on individual cases in which there is evidence of intentional discrimination.

To bolster a unit that has been battered by heavy turnover and a scandal over politically tinged hiring under the Bush administration, the Obama White House has also proposed a hiring spree that would swell the ranks of several hundred civil rights lawyers with more than 50 additional lawyers, a significant increase for a relatively small but powerful division of the government.

The division is “getting back to doing what it has traditionally done,” Mr. Holder said in an interview. “But it’s really only a start. I think the wounds that were inflicted on this division were deep, and it will take some time for them to fully heal.”

Few agencies are more engaged in the nation’s social and cultural debates than the Civil Rights Division, which was founded in 1957 to enforce anti-discrimination laws.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/us/politics/01rights.html?_r=2&hp

[BlooInBloo]

1. Like Atrios said about this, it'll take *at least* 8 years to clean up bush's mess.

[babylonsister]

4. Then no time like the present to start! nt

[elleng]

2. Posted this earlier and got 2 ??? responses.

I think its great, one of the things I, for one, have hoped for.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=476449&mesg_id=476449

[Bluenorthwest]

3. It is alright. But it is 'civil rights' as done by folks who don't think

my family has any. So far, Holder has defended DOMA using vicious and horrible language against my people, among other things.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Perhaps you forgot what website you're on.

[babylonsister]

6. Good news isn't as potent as bad news is around here-sadly. nt