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After years as a federal prosecutor, Paul Butler became convinced that American criminal justice system is fundamentally broken, ruining more lives than it protects. In his book, "Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice," Butler offers a lively and interesting analysis of crime and punishment in the United States and provides a powerful new vision of justice. 

He explores the limitations of working within a "corrupt" system and discusses a variety of provocative proposals for how ordinary citizens protest a system that is unjust.

The Civil Rights Book Club aims to provide context and provoke discussion about today's top social justice concerns. Each week, we profile a book, a movie, or other media that represent the diversity of the contemporary social justice movement. You can help support The Leadership Conference by purchasing Book Club selections through the Amazon.com link on our website.

The U.S. Senate blocked a controversial amendment today that would have required the Census Bureau to belatedly add a citizenship question to the 2010 Census questionnaire.

In voting for cloture on the Commerce Justice and Science (CJS) FY10 Appropriations bill, a majority of senators effectively stopped the amendment from coming up for a vote. If approved, the amendment would have asked respondents to identify if they are a U.S. citizen and would have required the reprinting of Census questionnaires at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) welcomed the decision. "The civil rights community won an important battle today in the fight for a fair and accurate 2010 census that counts every person in the United States as required by the U.S. Constitution," said LCCR President and CEO Wade Henderson.

Nearly 40 national civil rights organizations recently sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D. Nev., stating their concern over the obstructionist tactics used to stall Dawn Johnsen's nomination and urged him to bring the nomination to a vote quickly.

President Obama nominated Dawn Johnsen to head the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in February.  Her nomination was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 19 and has been pending ever since.

The OLC is a critical agency that advises the executive branch on the constitutionality of proposed policies, legislation, and executive orders. Johnsen is well qualified for this position, having served in the OLC as a deputy assistant attorney general from 1993 to 1996 and as the acting assistant attorney general from 1997 to 1998. She is currently a professor of constitutional law at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University.

"Professor Johnsen has the experience, the integrity, and the intellect to head this critical office. She should be confirmed without further delay…We urge you to use the full force of your office to bring this nomination to a vote at the earliest possible date," the letter states.

Read the letter (PDF)

Here are a few interesting civil rights related items: 

• Editorial: Maryland should make it harder to dropout by raising the dropout age to 18 - The Washington Post
• Jerry Miller's journalism has helped to bring justice in civil rights-era murder cases - Editor & Publisher
• Memo urges all U.S. attorneys to enforce the recently passed hate crimes law - U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) announced today that it elected Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., to be the organization's next president.  She is the first woman and the second King child to head the organization, which was co-founded by Dr. King in 1957.

King, the youngest child of Martin Luther King, Jr., is a longtime activist, minister, and lawyer who has spoken around the world. She is an elder at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia.

She inherits an organization that has expanded considerably since her father's time.  There are about 10,000 members and 80 chapters residing in 17 states.  In addition to a conflict resolution site already opened in Israel, the SCLC has plans in place to open other international sites over the next 10 years.

The SCLC was founded to coordinate and support nonviolent protests of segregation and played a key role in many of the most famous demonstration of the civil rights movement.  Dr. King served as its first president until his death in 1968.