United States Commission on Civil Rights

Last updated

United States Commission on Civil Rights
USCCR Seal.png
Agency overview
FormedSeptember 9, 1957;66 years ago (1957-09-09)
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Agency executive
Website www.usccr.gov

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility for investigating, reporting on, and making recommendations concerning civil rights issues in the United States. Specifically, the CCR investigates allegations of discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, disability. [1] In March 2023, Rochelle Mercedes Garza was appointed to serve as Chair of the CCR. She is the youngest person to be appointed to the position. [2]

Contents

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1975d, all statutory authority for the commission terminated on September 30, 1996, and Congress has not passed new legislation, but has continued to pass appropriations. [3] [4]

Commissioners

The commission is composed of eight commissioners. Four are appointed by the President of the United States, two by the President pro tempore of the Senate (upon the recommendations of the Senate majority leader and minority leader), and two by the Speaker of the House of Representatives (upon the recommendations of the House majority leader and minority leader). [5]

As of December 2022, the members of the commission are: [6]

Presidential appointees (2D, 2R):

Senate appointees (1D, 1I):

House appointees (1D, 1R):

History

Creation and early history

The commission was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to a recommendation by an ad hoc President's Committee on Civil Rights. In calling for a permanent commission, that committee stated:

In a democratic society, the systematic, critical review of social needs and public policy is a fundamental necessity. This is especially true of a field like civil rights, where the problems are enduring, and range widely [and where] ... a temporary, sporadic approach can never finally solve these problems.

Nowhere in the federal government in there an agency charged with the continuous appraisal of the status of civil rights, and the efficiency of the machinery with which we hope to improve that status. ... A permanent Commission could perform an invaluable function by collecting data. ... Ultimately, this would make possible a periodic audit of the extent to which our civil rights are secure. ... [The Commission should also] serve[] as a clearing house and focus of coordination for the many private, state, and local agencies working in the civil rights field, [and thus] would be invaluable to them and to the federal government.

A permanent Commission on Civil Rights should point all of its work toward regular reports which would include recommendations for action in ensuing periods. It should lay plans for dealing with broad civil rights problems. ... It should also investigate and make recommendations with respect to special civil rights problems. [7]

As then-Senator and Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson put it, the commission's task is to "gather facts instead of charges. ... [I]t can sift out the truth from the fancies; and it can return with recommendations which will be of assistance to reasonable men."

Since the 1957 Act, the commission has been re-authorized and re-configured by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Acts of 1983 and 1991 and the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994.

Soon after the passage of the 1957 Act, the then-six-member, bipartisan Commission, consisting of John A. Hannah, President of Michigan State University; Robert Storey, Dean of the Southern Methodist University Law School; Father Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame; John Stewart Battle, former governor of Virginia; Ernest Wilkins, a Department of Labor attorney; and Doyle E. Carlton, former governor of Florida, set about to assemble a record.

Their first project was to assess the administration of voter registration and elections in Montgomery, Alabama. But they immediately ran into resistance. Circuit Judge George C. Wallace, who was elected as governor in support of white supremacy, ordered voter registration records to be impounded. "They are not going to get the records," he said. "And if any agent of the Civil Rights Commission comes down to get them, they will be locked up. ... I repeat, I will jail any Civil Rights Commission agent who attempts to get the records." The hearing went forward with no shortage of evidence. Witness after witness testified to inappropriate interference with his or her right to vote. The Commissioners spent the night at Maxwell Air Base, because all the city's hotels were segregated.

From there, the Commission went on to hold hearings on the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education in Nashville, Tennessee and on housing discrimination in Atlanta, Chicago and New York. The facts gathered in these and other hearings along with the commission's recommendations were presented not just to Congress and the President but the American people generally, and they become part of the foundation upon which the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 were built. [8]

A revolution in public opinion occurred during the late 1950s and early 1960s on issues of civil rights. The activities and reports of the Commission on Civil Rights contributed to that change. In 1956, the year before the 1957 Act, less than half of white Americans agreed with the statement, "White students and Negro students should go to the same schools." By 1963, the year before the 1964 Act, that figure had jumped to 62%. In 1956, a healthy majority of white Americans—60%—opposed "separate sections for Negroes on streetcars and buses."[ citation needed ] By 1963, the number had grown to 79% opposed—an overwhelming majority. Even in the South, minds were being changed. In 1956, 27% of Southern whites opposed separate sections on public transportation for blacks and whites. By 1963, the number had become a majority of 52%.

The change in views about the desirability of a federal law was even more dramatic. As late as July 1963, 49 percent of the total population favored a federal law that would give "all persons, Negro as well as white, the right to be served in public places such as hotels, restaurants, and similar establishments," and 42 percent were opposed. By September of the same year, a majority of 54 percent was in favor, and 38 percent opposed. In February 1964, support had climbed to 61 percent and opposition had declined to 31 percent.

Reagan and Clinton administrations

In 1977 the Commission produced the report Sex Bias in the U.S. Code. [9] In 1981 President Ronald Reagan, looking to move the commission in a more conservative direction, appointed Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., as the first black chairman of the commission. A Howard University graduate, he was a conservative who opposed affirmative action and many of the commission's activities. Pendleton reduced its staff and programs. [10]

In 1983, Reagan attempted to fire three members of the commission. They sued the administration in federal court to stay on. The authorizing legislation stated that a president could only fire a commissioner for "misbehavior in office," and it was clear that the terminations were the result of disagreements over policy. A compromise brokered in the Senate resulted in the current hybrid group of eight, half appointed by the president and half by the Congress, with six-year terms that do not expire with the inauguration of a new president. Since that time the commission has struggled to remain independent, and its agenda has oscillated between liberal and conservative aims as factions among its members have ebbed and waned. [11]

In 1990, Congress relied on a commission report to enact the Americans with Disabilities Act. (ADA)

21st century

The Commission became increasingly polarized under the George W. Bush administration, as conservatives –including Republican appointees on the Commission itself – argued that it no longer served any useful purpose and conducted partisan investigations meant to embarrass Republicans. [12] [13] After 2004, when Bush appointed two conservative Commissioners who had recently canceled their Republican Party registrations to the two "independent" seats, obtaining a six-member conservative majority bloc, the Commission dramatically scaled back its activities and canceled several ongoing investigations. [14] [13]

On September 5, 2007, Commissioner Gail Heriot testified about the agency's value on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Heriot told the Senate Committee on the Judiciary:

If the value of a federal agency could be calculated on a per dollar basis, it would not surprise me to find the Commission on Civil Rights to be among the best investments Congress ever made. My back-of-the-envelope calculation is that the Commission now accounts for less than 1/2000th of 1 percent of the federal budget; back in the late 1950s its size would have been roughly similar. And yet its impact has been dramatic. [15]

In 2008, President George W. Bush announced that he would oppose the proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act shortly after the commission issued a report recommending rejection of the bill. In 2018 the Commission reversed its position in a report evaluating the federal government's efforts to meet its trust obligations to Native Americans and Native Hawaiians. [16]

During the Barack Obama administration, this conservative bloc reversed its position and began using the commission as a vigorous advocate for conservative interpretations of civil rights issues, such as opposition to the Voting Rights Act and the expansion of federal hate crimes laws. [17] In 2010, Commissioner Abigail Thernstrom, a Republican appointee generally considered part of the commission's conservative bloc, criticized her colleagues' investigation into the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case, describing it as motivated by a partisan "fantasy ... [that] they could bring Eric Holder down and really damage [President Obama]" [18] and arguing that only "a moron" could believe the commission's theory that Obama appointees had ordered DoJ attorneys not to protect the voting rights of white people. [19] In October 2010, Michael Yaki, one of the two Democratic commissioners, walked out of a meeting in protest. In doing so, Yaki deprived the panel of a quorum and delayed a vote on a draft report, which Yaki claimed, is unfairly biased against the Obama administration. Yaki described the panel as a "kangaroo court". [20]

President Obama eventually appointed two staunch liberals to the Commission in the last days of his administration, [21] keeping the commission to six Democratic and two Republican appointees. [22] In June 2017 the commission voted unanimously to begin a wide-ranging investigation of the Trump administration's civil rights enforcement practices, and 6–2 along party lines to express their concern about the administration's actions. [22]

List of Chairpersons, 1958–present

Commission structure

The eight commissioners serve six-year staggered terms. Four are appointed by the President, two by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and two by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. No more than four Commissioners can be of the same political party. In addition, neither the two Senate appointees nor the two House appointees may be of the same political party. With the concurrence of a majority of the commission's members, the President designates a chair and a Vice Chair. The Staff Director is also appointed by the President with the concurrence of a majority of the Commissioners.

The commission has appointed 51 State Advisory Committees (SACs) to function as the "eyes and ears" of the Commission in their respective locations. The commission's enabling legislation authorizes the creation of these SACs and directs the commission to establish at least one advisory committee in every state and the District of Columbia. Each state committee has a charter that enables it to operate and identifies its members. Each charter is valid for a term of two years, and the committee terminates if the charter is not renewed by the commission. Each committee has a minimum of eleven members. The SACs are supported by regional offices whose primary function is to assist them in their planning, fact-finding, and reporting activities. Like the commission, the SACs produce written reports that are based on fact-finding hearings and other public meetings.

Commission operations

The commission studies alleged discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. It also studies alleged deprivations of voting rights and discrimination in the administration of justice. Though the commission has no enforcement powers, its commissioners try to enhance the enforcement of federal civil rights laws. Its recommendations often lead to action in Congress. [29]

Commissioners hold monthly daylong meetings, including six briefings on subjects, chosen by the commissioners, that involve possible discrimination. Ahead of these meetings, commission staff prepares reports on those subjects and schedules appearances by witnesses. Each year the Commission drafts recommendations that are sent to Congress by September 30. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Article Two of the United States Constitution</span> Portion of the US Constitution regarding the executive branch

Article Two of the United States Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government, which carries out and enforces federal laws. Article Two vests the power of the executive branch in the office of the president of the United States, lays out the procedures for electing and removing the president, and establishes the president's powers and responsibilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Election Commission</span> United States independent regulatory agency that regulates federal elections

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act, the commission describes its duties as "to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections." It is led by six commissioners who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Yarborough</span> American politician (1903–1996)

Ralph Webster Yarborough was an American politician and lawyer. He was a Texas Democratic politician who served in the United States Senate from 1957 to 1971 and was a leader of the progressive wing of his party. Along with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, but unlike most Southern congressmen, Yarborough refused to support the 1956 Southern Manifesto, which called for resistance to the racial integration of schools and other public places. Yarborough voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. Yarborough was the only senator from a state that was part of the Confederacy to vote for all five bills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Cardin</span> American lawyer and politician (born 1943)

Benjamin Louis Cardin is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Maryland's 3rd congressional district from 1987 to 2007. Cardin served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1967 to 1987 and as its speaker from 1979 to 1987, the youngest person to ever hold the position. In his half-century career as an elected official, he has never lost an election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Election Assistance Commission</span> American government agency

The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The Commission serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration. It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment. It is also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil Rights Act of 1957</span> American civil rights law

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Civil Service Commission</span>

The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States and was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978; the Office of Personnel Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board are the successor agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Hruska</span> American politician (1904–1999)

Roman Lee Hruska was an American attorney and politician who served as a Republican U.S. senator from the state of Nebraska. Hruska was known as one of the most vocal conservatives in the Senate during the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil Rights Act of 1960</span> United States law

The Civil Rights Act of 1960 is a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. It dealt primarily with discriminatory laws and practices in the segregated South, by which African Americans and Mexican-American Texans had been effectively disenfranchised since the late 19th and start of the 20th century. This was the fifth Civil Rights Act to be enacted in United States history. Over an 85-year period, it was preceded only by the Civil Rights Act of 1957, whose shortcomings largely influenced its creation. This law served to more effectively enforce what was set forth in the 1957 act through eliminating certain loopholes in it, and to establish additional provisions. Aside from addressing voting rights, the Civil Rights Act of 1960 also imposed criminal penalties for obstruction of court orders to limit resistance to the Supreme Court's school desegregation decisions, arranged for free education for military members' children, and banned the act of fleeing to avoid prosecution for property damage. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter F. George</span> American politician (1878–1957)

Walter Franklin George was an American politician from the state of Georgia. He was a longtime Democratic United States Senator from 1922 to 1957 and was President pro tempore of the United States Senate from 1955 to 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Office of Special Counsel</span> Investigative and prosecutorial agency

The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC's primary mission is the safeguarding of the merit system in federal employment by protecting employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), especially reprisal for "whistleblowing." The agency also operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures of violations of law, rule, or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; abuse of authority; and substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. In addition, OSC issues advice on the Hatch Act and enforces its restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees. Finally, OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military service members under USERRA. OSC has around 140 staff, and the Special Counsel is an ex officio member of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an association of inspectors general charged with the regulation of good governance within the federal government.

Congressional oversight is oversight by the United States Congress over the executive branch, including the numerous U.S. federal agencies. Congressional oversight includes the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. Congress exercises this power largely through its congressional committee system. Oversight also occurs in a wide variety of congressional activities and contexts. These include authorization, appropriations, investigative, and legislative hearings by standing committees; which is specialized investigations by select committees; and reviews and studies by congressional support agencies and staff.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is an independent agency within the executive branch of the United States government, established by Congress in 2004 to advise the President and other senior executive branch officials to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil liberties in the United States are appropriately considered in the development and implementation of all laws, regulations, and executive branch policies related to terrorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Moore McCulloch</span> American politician

William Moore McCulloch was an American lawyer and politician who served as a Republican U.S. Representative for Ohio's 4th congressional district from 1947 to 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taft Commission</span> Legislature of the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands

The Taft Commission, also known as the Second Philippine Commission, was established by United States President William McKinley on March 16, 1900, following the recommendations of the First Philippine Commission, using presidential war powers while the U.S. was engaged in the Philippine–American War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Yaki</span> American politician

Michael Yaki is an American attorney and politician. He has served as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, succeeding Christopher Edley, Jr., since February 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internal Revenue Service</span> Revenue service of the US federal government

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax law. It is an agency of the Department of the Treasury and led by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who is appointed to a five-year term by the President of the United States. The duties of the IRS include providing tax assistance to taxpayers; pursuing and resolving instances of erroneous or fraudulent tax filings; and overseeing various benefits programs, including the Affordable Care Act.

The New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case was a political controversy in the United States concerning an incident that occurred during the 2008 election. Two weeks before George W. Bush left office, the New Black Panther Party and two of its members, Minister King Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson, were sued by the Department of Justice on claims of voter intimidation for their conduct outside a polling station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

According to the United States Office of Government Ethics, a political appointee is "any employee who is appointed by the President, the Vice President, or agency head". As of 2016, there were around 4,000 political appointment positions which an incoming administration needs to review, and fill or confirm, of which about 1,200 require Senate confirmation. The White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) is one of the offices most responsible for political appointees and for assessing candidates to work at or for the White House.

This is a list of political appointments of current officeholders made by the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump.

References

  1. "Our Mission | U.S. Commission on Civil Rights". www.usccr.gov. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  2. "Biography-Rochelle Garza". United States Commission on Civil Rights. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  3. Laney, Garrine. "The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: History, Funding, and Current Issues" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Among other provisions, it reauthorized the Commission until September 30, 1996. Although authorization for the Commission has expired... Congress has not passed legislation to reauthorize the Commission on Civil Rights since 1994, although it has continued to appropriate funding for the agency.
  4. "Termination".
  5. "Public Law 103-419" (PDF). October 25, 1994. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  6. "U.S. Commission on Civil Rights - Commissioners" . Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  7. See President's Committee on Civil Rights, To Secure These Rights 154 (1947).
  8. Foster Rhea Dulles, The Civil Rights Commission, 1957–1965 (Michigan State University Press 1968)
  9. Heide, Wilma Scott (2014). Feminism for the Health of It. BookBaby. p. 178. ISBN   9781483541747.
  10. Samuel G. Freedman (February 12, 2009). "50 Years of Struggle". New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  11. Mary Frances Berry. And Justice for All: The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Freedom in America. Knopf, 2009.
  12. "A Deepening Divide on U.S. Civil Rights Panel - The Washington Post". The Washington Post .
  13. 1 2 Texeira, Erin; Press, Associated (March 17, 2005). "Uncertainty envelops civil rights panel". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  14. "Bush maneuver alters civil rights panel's direction - The Boston Globe". archive.boston.com. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  15. See Gail Heriot, The 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and its Continuing Importance, Testimony before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (September 5, 2007)
  16. "U.S. Commission on Civil Rights now supports federal recognition of Native Hawaiians". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. December 20, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  17. Reynolds, Gerald; Rights, chairman of the U. S. Commission on Civil. "Civil Rights Panel Has Gone Wrong, Critics Say". NPR.org. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  18. Smith, Ben (July 16, 2010). "A conservative dismisses right-wing Black Panther 'fantasies'". POLITICO. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  19. "U.S. Civil Rights Commission hearing erupts in shouting - CNN.com". www.cnn.com. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  20. "U.S. Civil Rights Commission sidetracked by member's protest". www.cnn.com. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  21. "STATEMENT: CAP's Carmel Martin on Appointment of Catherine Lhamon and Debo Adegbile to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights". Center for American Progress. December 15, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  22. 1 2 Klein, Alyson (June 16, 2017). "Civil Rights Commission Launches Investigation Into Ed. Dept., Other Agencies". Education Week. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  23. Hesburgh timeline
  24. Berry, Mary Frances. And Justice For All: The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Freedom in America. Knopf, 2009. pp. 134-140.
  25. National Council of Churches
  26. McQuiston, John T. (June 6, 1988). "Clarence M. Pendleton, 57, Dies; Head of Civil Rights Commission". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  27. Resume of William Barclay Allen
  28. O'Donnell, Michelle (July 14, 2005). "Arthur Fletcher, G.O.P. Adviser, Dies at 80". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  29. 1 2 Vogel, Ed (February 9, 2014). "Nevada attorney steers U.S. Civil Rights Commission to patient dumping". Las Vegas Review-Journal . Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.

Further reading

Books

Journals