Since the election of Donald Trump,
many have been left worrying about what will happen if his
administration actually turns his campaign promises into policy. One
of the areas of most concern will be civil rights. Trump's threats to
ban Muslims on the basis of religion, initiate mass deportations of
Mexicans and to punish women for having abortions have ignited alarm
among civil rights advocates and activists all around the country who
are deciding where best to employ their resources in the resistance
against Trump.
Although it is difficult to predict
what the Trump administration actually plans to do, one can obtain a
broad brush view of its intentions by Trump's recent choice of
anti-civil rights advocate Jeff Sessions to lead the Department of
Justice (DOJ) as Attorney General. It may be helpful to take a look
at how past Republican presidents have taken action in rolling back
civil rights. Past Republican presidents have used their power over
the DOJ in order to weaken its ability to protect civil rights via
strategic personnel changes and redirecting the priorities of the
civil rights division within the department, according to Samuel
Bagenstos, law professor and former Principal Deputy Assistant
Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ in a recent
interview
on The Majority Report.
A White House administration utilizing
its power over the DOJ in order to serve its own ideological and
political leanings is nothing new. In fact this has been going on
since at least when Ronald Reagan was president, according to an
article
in the Los Angeles Times. President George W. Bush's
administration had run into controversy in his firing of a group of
attorneys from the DOJ which was largely seen as politically
motivated. During the Bush years the administration ordered the DOJ
to prioritize fighting voter fraud while deprioritizing other civil
rights litigation efforts, despite little evidence of significant
amounts of fraudulent voting occurring. This was obviously a
desperate attempt to find any shred of evidence that could be useful
in propping up the false GOP narrative of undocumented immigrants
casting illegal votes for Democrats.
There is no indication to suggest the
Trump administration will not use this same power over the DOJ in
order to further its campaign promises to squash the civil rights of
minorities and disenfranchised people. The administration could
possibly fire all attorneys in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, which has been
done by past administrations, and refill those positions with
individuals who are more aligned with derailing civil rights
expansion rather than enforcing civil rights laws. This will leave a large glaring hole in
society's apparatus for resisting attacks on civil liberties,
including hate crimes, voter suppression and repression of women's
reproductive rights.
With Republicans controlling all three
branches of the federal government, the courts will become an even
more essential battleground in the fight to protect civil liberties.
Luckily, besides relying on the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ,
activists have already developed infrastructure which will be
critical in the battle for civil rights via various organizations
such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
Although these organizations have already been active in pursuing
civil rights litigation their efforts are now central in engaging
with the Trump administration's attacks on civil rights. Please
consider supporting these organizations with donations, volunteering
and whatever other means that are available.
