Protocol may suggest that a caregiver appointment would oversee the storied Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. What if the slow happens?
Donald Trump defies protocol. His return election as 47th leader is generally innovative. The Musk-RFK-Rogan-Gabbard alliance he assembled is politically innovative. It is structurally unconventional to nominate the beautiful and perceptive attorney general Matt Gaetz. Therefore, there is a chance that the Trump 47 Civil Rights Division may be unconventional in addition because strong constitutional protection for Americans ‘ most fundamental civil right has never been a necessity.
Launched by Eisenhower in 1957 to store “massive opposition” to Brown v. Board of Education, the CRD has long since lost sight of its quest to secure common legal rights. It has mired itself in far-left, obscure civil rights causes like racist restrictions, extreme surveillance reformation, and transgender ideology and precise ideological opponents.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is an example of the target CRD chooses. SpaceX limited its choosing to U.S. members and holders of green cards in order to comply with export control laws prohibiting the disclosure of sensitive data to foreign nationals. It yet hires several legal immigrants. The department continued to file a lawsuit against SpaceX for discriminating against minimum “asylum seekers,” whose millions of applicants have no conceivable chance of achieving that standing. For SpaceX, it’s a Catch-22 evidently designed to condemn Elon’s high status.
CRD even stymies design and practice investigations in provincial police, jails, and educational facilities, criticizing administrative and enforcement practices in some and blaming the chaos brought on by administrative neglect in others. The department lightly and quietly when threatened and vandalized with conception counseling centers, signaling its pro-choice with terrible FACE Act prosecutions for obstructing abortion clinics.
The “LGBTQI+ operating party” litigates to change Title IX and another sex-discrimination prohibitions on their mind, opposing state laws protecting girls ‘ opposition in sports, privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms, and children from medical and surgical sterilization. The division ignores or lags in the big picture when it comes to important issues like free expression and our most fundamental constitutional rights, such as equal protection and free expression, while playing small ball on these pet causes.
Voting rights under Donald Trump could once again be recognized as civil rights under Donald Trump. Voters are sick of the repeated elections interference schemes by government officials. In 2016, it was Jim Comey and the Clinton-orchestrated fake Russian dossier. Elections rule gamesmanship by state officials in 2020, with 51 former intelligence officers spitting Hunter Biden’s laptop. Trump’s removal from the White House was conspicuously timed with politically targeted criminal prosecutions and other litigation this year.
This must stop, and the CRD should stop it. These schemes were initiated or facilitated by federal or state officials. Nothing would be more helpful to the nation than preventing repetition by finally holding some of the schemers accountable, so investigating them is completely within the CRD’s purview.
Free speech too is a civil right. I inquired in a House Judiciary subcommittee last year about whether the CRD would respond to the Missouri v. Biden case, which the trial judge described as “arguably the most massive attack on free speech in United States history.” Her answer:” Congressman, I’m not familiar with this litigation”.
Hopefully, Donald Trump’s appointee wo n’t be so clueless. CRD should look into and prosecute dishonest government officials, whether they are federal or state, who seek to censor American citizens ‘ public discourse. The division’s support of free speech principles here at home would be heard everywhere.
The Civil Rights Division must break free of outdated ideology and enter the fray even for its original goal, which is to end racial discrimination. The division responded to Chief Justice Roberts ‘ 2007 assertion that” the” way to end discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race by “launching its own “massive resistance.” Prior to the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision, the Civil Rights Division had vehemently opposed race quotas in college admissions until the irony of the fact that it had perpetuated race discrimination that was against the Constitution.
The Civil Rights Division’s support helped the Biden administration continue to spread race-conscious DEI and “equity” policies throughout the federal government. On Day 1, Donald Trump should change those policies. And his assistant attorney general for civil rights should use CRD’s investigative and litigation resources to finally eradicate race-conscious policies at “recalcitrant institutions like Princeton, Duke, and Yale” or to erode endowments in the process.
A unique Civil Rights Division is necessary now. The country is ready.
Rep. Dan Bishop is an attorney and the U. S. representative for North Carolina’s 8th congressional district since 2019.
