House Committee Tough on Civil Rights Division's Employment Discrimination Record
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 10/2/2007
House members called Department of Justice's record on prosecuting employment discrimination "dismal" and "inexcusable."
On September 25, the House Subcommittee on the Constitution held an oversight hearing on the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice, which is the government agency that enforces federal civil rights laws banning employment discrimination.
The hearing was the latest in a series of congressional oversight hearings that have examined the lack of adequate enforcement and increased politicization in the Department of Justice under the Bush Administration.
"It's been my impression for years that employment discrimination has been underprosecuted," said Rep. John Conyers, D. Mich.
However, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Asheesh Agarwal testified that the agency has "vigorously enforced, and will continue to vigorously enforce" laws prohibiting employment discrimination.
Agarwal presented statistics primarily from the past two years, including a recent high-profile case in which the Division brought suit against the New York City Fire Department. The Division's complaint alleges that the use of two written exams discriminates against Black and Hispanic applicants.
Other witnesses said that these statistics were misleading.
"While the Department has become more active in the last two years, likely as a result of Congressional prodding, its enforcement record is hardly stellar," said Richard Ugelow of American University's Washington School of Law.
The Division did not file a single "pattern or practice" case alleging employment discrimination against African Americans until 2006.
In addition, it only filed 44 Title VII cases since Bush took office, which is currently less than half of the Title VII cases filed under the Clinton Administration, according to Jocelyn Frye, general counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, religion or national origin.
Many of the committee members, visibly frustrated with Agarwal's protestations that the Division was doing as well as the Clinton Administration in its last three years, declared that comparing Bush's record to Clinton's was inadequate.
"That's not a good answer; It's unacceptable," said Rep. John Conyers, D. Mich. "The Clinton Administration didn't leave me breathless either."
A number of witnesses provided recommendations to the Committee to get the Division back on track, including regular reporting of the Division's enforcement statistics, establishment of clear enforcement goals and priorities on an annual basis, and regular congressional oversight.
