Civil Rights in the Age of Obama

Today the New York Times reported that an investigation by the civil rights division of the Justice Department will be opened finally, looking into attacks on Latinos in Suffolk County.

Maybe Steve Levy, Suffolk County's xenophobic county executive, will be forced to take responsibility for the tone he has set during his rise to power.

Unlike other administrations before Bush, the civil rights division of the Justice Department used to be an honorable division, with some of the best and the brightest working there. Bill Lann Lee, who headed the division from 1997 through 2001 during the Clinton Administration was just one of those honorable attorneys. Investigations and prosecutions by the civil rights division fell precipitously during the last eight years.

From 2003 until 2007 Bradley Schlozman politicized the civil rights division, dissembling the bureau and moving its mission away from protecting civil rights and into pushing an agenda that preferred to seek out alleged discrimination against fundamentalists. Check out the New York Times article.

According to internal investigations, Schlozman hired Federalist Society lawyers, avoided hiring anyone who looked or smelled like a "liberal," and transferred experienced attorneys out of the department because of their liberal bent. Over three quarters of the staff were transferred or left during Schlozman's tenure. In addition, Schlozman lied before the Senate. But Mukasey won't prosecute him! On January 14, The Times published an editorial about the Schlozman debacle and the failure of the Justice Department to prosecute him for such blatant law violations, including perjury.

So it's about time, in the last week of the Bush administration, that the civil rights division might do what it is supposed to be doing: investigate the degradation of civil rights based solely national origin.