Civil Rights Commission
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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the
United States federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
, created by the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights law 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. E ...
during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility for investigating, reporting on, and making recommendations concerning
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
issues in the United States. Specifically, the CCR investigates allegations of discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, disability. 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. 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.


Commissioners

The commission is composed of eight commissioners. Four are appointed by the
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
, 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). As of December 2022, the members of the commission are: Presidential appointees (2D, 2R): *Stephen Gilchrist (R) – chairman and CEO, South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce (appointed by President
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, May 2020). * J. Christian Adams (R) – President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation (appointed by President Trump, August 2020) * Rochelle Garza (D) – Attorney and President of the Texas Civil Rights Project (appointed by President Joe Biden, March 2023) * Victoria Nourse (D) – Ralph Whitworth Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law School (appointed by President Joe Biden, March 2023) Senate appointees (1D, 1I): * Gail Heriot (I) –
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law professor (first appointed by President Pro Tempore
Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democratic Pa ...
, February 2007; reappointed by President Pro Tempore
Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy ( ; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who represented Vermont in the United States Senate from 1975 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he also was the pr ...
, December 2013). *
Glenn Magpantay Glenn Duque Magpantay (born 1969) is the former executive director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, an instructor at Brooklyn Law School and Hunter College/CUNY, and a former civil rights attorney in the role of Democracy P ...
(D) – Civil rights attorney and law professor, Chair of the LGBT Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (appointed by Senate Majority Leader
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, March 2023) House appointees (1D, 1R): * Peter N. Kirsanow (R) – Partner at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Arnoff in Cleveland, Ohio; former member of the
National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces United States labor law, U.S. labor law in relation to collect ...
(first appointed by President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
, December 2001, reappointed December 2006; reappointed by Speaker
Dennis Hastert John Dennis Hastert ( ; born January 2, 1942) is an American former politician, teacher, and wrestling coach who represented from 1987 to 2007 and served as the 51st speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007. Hast ...
, December 2013; reappointed by House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer Steny Hamilton Hoyer ( ; born June 14, 1939) is an American politician and retired attorney who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for since 1981. He also served as House Majority Leader from 2007 to 20 ...
, December 2019). *
Mondaire Jones Mondaire Lamar Jones (born May 18, 1987) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Jones was the U.S. representative for from 2021 to 2023. Before his 2022 defeat, Jones was descri ...
(D) – Former U.S. Representative for
New York's 17th Congressional District New York's 17th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in Southern New York (state), New York. It includes all of Rockland County, New York, Rockland County and Putnam County, N ...
(first appointed by Speaker
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, December 2022)


History


Creation and early history

The commission was created by the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights law 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. E ...
, which was signed into law by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
in response to a recommendation by an ''ad hoc'' President's Committee on Civil Rights. In calling for a permanent commission, that committee stated: As then-Senator and Majority Leader
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
put it, the commission's task is to "gather facts instead of charges. ... 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 Theodore Martin Hesburgh, Congregation of Holy Cross, CSC (May 25, 1917 – February 26, 2015) was an American Catholic Church, Catholic priest and academic who was a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He was president of the Universit ...
, President of the University of Notre Dame;
John Stewart Battle John Stewart Battle (July 11, 1890 – April 9, 1972) was an American lawyer and politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and as the 56th Governor of Virginia (from 1950 to 1954). Early and family life Battle was ...
, 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 Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. But they immediately ran into resistance. Circuit Judge George C. Wallace, who was elected as
governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
in support of
white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
, 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 ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...
'' in
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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 Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...
and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 were built. 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." 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''. In 1981 President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, 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 Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
graduate, he was a conservative who opposed
affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
and many of the commission's activities. Pendleton reduced its staff and programs. 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. In 1990, Congress relied on a commission report to enact the
Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...
. (ADA)


21st century

The Commission became increasingly polarized under the
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
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. 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. 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.
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. During the
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
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 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movem ...
and the expansion of federal hate crimes laws. 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 ...
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they could bring Eric Holder down and really damage resident Obama 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. 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". President Obama eventually appointed two staunch liberals to the Commission in the last days of his administration, keeping the commission to six Democratic and two Republican appointees. 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.


List of Chairpersons, 1958–present

* John A. Hannah, 1958–1969 *
Theodore Hesburgh Theodore Martin Hesburgh, Congregation of Holy Cross, CSC (May 25, 1917 – February 26, 2015) was an American Catholic Church, Catholic priest and academic who was a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He was president of the Universit ...
, 1969–1972 * J. Stephen Horn, 1972–1974 (Acting) * Arthur S. Flemming, 1974–1981 * Clarence M. Pendleton Jr., 1981–1988 * William B. Allen, 1988–1989 * Arthur Fletcher, 1990–1993 * Mary Frances Berry, 1993–2004 * Gerald A. Reynolds, 2004–2011 * Martin R. Castro, 2011–2016 * Catherine E. Lhamon, 2016–2021 * Norma V. Cantu, 2021–2023 * Rochelle Garza, 2023–2025 * Peter Kirsanow, 2025–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. 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.


References


Further reading

Books

New York: Random House Digital, 2009 * Gabriel J. Chin ed.
''U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on Asian Pacific Americans''
(2005) * Gabriel J. Chin ed.
''U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on the Police''
(2005) * Gabriel J. Chin & Lori Wagner eds.
''U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on Voting''
(2005) * Urofsky, Melvin I. ''The Affirmative Action Puzzle: A Living History From Reconstruction to Today'' (2020)

* Chapter 7 of Golland, David H. ''A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican.'' (2019). University Press of Kansas. Journals * ''The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,'' 22 ''Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review'' 447 (1987)
SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN, "50 Years of Struggle"
''New York Times,'' 12 February 2009


External links

*
Memphis Civil Rights Digital Archive's Collection of Transcripts from hearing on Civil Rights in 1962

Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, a project of the University of Maryland School of Law, Thurgood Marshall Law Library

Legislative History of the Commission

Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the United States Commission on Civil Rights

Sex Bias in the U.S. Code
(1977 report issued by the commission) {{authority control 1957 establishments in Washington, D.C. Human rights enforcement agencies in the United States Organizations established in 1957 Civil rights movement Independent agencies of the United States government United States national commissions Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower Organizations based in Washington, D.C.