The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a national coalition comprised of 157 labor, civil-rights, and religious groups, recently criticized the Reagan Administration’s track record on enforcing civil-rights laws as a "travesty." During a press conference, the leaders of the coalition released a report claiming that Justice Department officials have allowed political pressures to compromise the fair administration of the law.
According to Benjamin L. Hooks, the chairman of the coalition, "Civil and human rights are not a priority for this Administration." The 75-page report highlighted that the Administration’s actions were undermining the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which banned segregated schools in 1954. The report argued that the Justice Department has rejected established laws and neglected its role in enforcing civil-rights laws. It cited a statement from William Bradford Reynolds, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, who stated, "We will not force children who do not wish to have an integrated education to have one."
Furthermore, the report accused the Justice Department of disregarding or disapproving settled legal principles that affect equal educational opportunities for children, particularly with regards to granting tax exemptions to discriminatory private schools.
Additionally, the report claimed that the Justice Department had reversed its legal positions on ongoing Supreme Court cases. For example, it withdrew federal support for free public education for the children of undocumented immigrants in Texas, shifted its stance from supporting the voluntary desegregation program in the Seattle school system to supporting Washington state’s attempt to declare the plan illegal, and changed its stance from opposing to supporting the desegregation program in the Chicago school system. The department’s position on the Chicago program was previously considered in violation of a federal court order.
The report also alleged that members of Congress and political advisers to the Administration had successfully pressured department leaders to change their positions in civil-rights cases. It pointed fingers at Republican legislators such as Senators Jesse A. Helms, Strom Thurmond, Thad Cochran, and Jeremiah Denton, as well as Representative Trent Lott, claiming they were responsible for advocating policy reversals.
Furthermore, the report stated that Lyn Nofziger, the former assistant to the President for political affairs, played a role in the policy shift regarding the Seattle desegregation lawsuit. A memorandum from Mr. Nofziger to Attorney General William French Smith, quoted in the report, expressed the belief that changing the direction of the country included making changes to mandatory school busing, as per the President’s wishes. Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Reynolds have not seen the report, according to a spokesperson for the Justice Department.
In a related development, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights sent a strongly-worded letter to President Reagan expressing "alarm" at the efforts to reduce federal leadership in promoting equal educational opportunities. The letter, dated February 12 and made public by the commission, emphasized that a robust federal commitment to enforcing civil-rights laws is necessary to make the promise of equal educational opportunity a reality.
Endangerment of Safeguards
The message stated: "The efforts by both the Congressional and executive branches to dismantle the vital federal civil-rights endeavor in the field of education pose a threat to undo decades-worth of advancements in ensuring equal educational opportunities. This jeopardizes the protection that our nation’s youth must possess in order to have a fair shot at education and, ultimately, employment." The letter was signed on behalf of the commissioners by Arthur S. Flemming, whose position as chairman will soon be taken over by an appointee chosen by Reagan.
