March 29, 2005
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled today to expand the scope of a landmark anti-discrimination law to protect whistleblowers who report academic institutions that discriminate against students based on gender. Full story
February 10, 2005
The Senate passed the Class Action Fairness Act (S. 5) 72-26, which revises the rules for class-action lawsuits. The House will take it up next week and send it to the president to sign into law.
February 09, 2005
The Senate voted against a Class Action Fairness Act amendment (40 to 59) that would have exempted civil rights and wage-and-hour state law cases from the bill, thereby preventing those cases from being moved to federal courts. Full Story.
January 25, 2005
Senate Republican leaders introduced the Class Action Fairness Act (S. 5), which would transfer interstate class actions from state court to federal court. One possible amendment would exclude from the bill's coverage class actions based on state civil rights or state wage and hour laws.
January 26, 2005:
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines (10-8) to endorse Alberto Gonzales' nomination. Since November 2004, dozens of civil and human rights groups, including religious leaders, military veterans, lawyers, and former judges, have expressed their concerns over Gonzales' nomination, citing his role in setting the current administration's policy on detention, interrogation, and torture.
January 12, 2005:
The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in United States v. Booker and United States v. Fanfan held that the current federal sentencing system violates a defendant's right to trial by jury, while at the same time directing federal judges to "take [federal guidelines] into account" when imposing sentences. Full story.
June 16, 2004:
Civil Liberties Restoration Act (H.R. 4951, S. 2528) CLRA seeks to rescind the most egregious provisions adopted by the government under the Patriot Act, such as secret hearings, arbitrary and indefinite detentions, and other violations of privacy and First Amendment rights. CLRA was introduced in the Senate by Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and in the House of Representatives by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif. and William Delahunt, D-Mass.
March 2004:
Federal Marriage Amendment S.J. Res 30 would amend the Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
2004
The FAIRNESS Act is introduced.
November 2003:
Federal Marriage Amendment S.J Res. 26 Companion bill to H.J. Res. 56 is Introduced in the Senate.
May 2003:
Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res 56, which would amend the Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, was introduced in May 2003, followed by a companion bill, S.J. Res 26, which was introduced in November 2003.
Head Start Reauthorization (H.R. 2210) House Republicans stripped protections against religious discrimination by some organizations receiving federal Head Start funds. Their change allows religious organizations to practice employment discrimination against people who do not share the organizations' religious beliefs, even it the job is being paid for with federal funds. Other types of employment discrimination, such as sex, race and disability discrimination would remain illegal. A Democratic amendment by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), intended to prevent religious discrimination with federal funds, failed on an almost entirely party line vote, 200-229.
2002
The increase in EEOC funding proposed by President Bush for FY 2002 is only 2.3 percent ($7 million) - an amount that essentially represents a cut in EEOC funding because it does not even keep pace with inflation. This is simply insufficient to address the backlog of charges and other tasks the EEOC must undertake. Additional funding increases are necessary to ensure that the EEOC serves the needs of both workers and employers.
Similarly, the Bush Administration has proposed no increase in the Department of Labor's appropriations for civil rights enforcement. Again, this effectively constitutes a cut in funding for DOL civil rights enforcement, because it fails even to keep up with inflation. The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces Executive Order 11246, which prohibits employment discrimination by federal contractors and requires federal contractors to take affirmative steps to ensure equal opportunity in their workforces. When funded adequately, the OFCCP's enforcement of the Executive Order program has contributed to significant expansions in job opportunities for women and people of color.
Moreover, the Bush Administration's FY2002 budget included no increases for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Civil Rights, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the Legal Services Corporation. Again, such flatlined budgets that fail to keep pace with inflation mean that these important offices will have to cut back on their enforcement efforts. On the other hand, the Bush Administration proposed modest increases for the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights, the Department of Transportation's Office of Civil Rights, and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
2001
Fiscal year 2001 appropriations included some modest increases in funding for civil rights enforcement agencies -- though not at the levels requested in President Clinton's proposed FY2001 budget. Federal civil rights enforcement efforts received an overall increase of 6% for FY2001 funding. Included in that increase was an additional $12 million for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, a 19% increase. On the other hand, FY2001 appropriations for the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights included no meaningful increase, even though the number of complaints filed with ED/OCR over the past decade has doubled (the increase in FY 1999 alone was 35 percent over the prior year), while staffing at the agency has declined by 10 percent in that period. Similarly, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's FY 2001 increase was only half the amount proposed by the Clinton Administration.
