The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Volume 3, Number 1

CONGRESS OVERRIDES THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT

On March 22, 1988, the Senate by a vote of 74-23, and the House by a vote of 292-133 overrode President Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act. The Act restores the four civil rights statutes that relate to federal financial assistance to their broad coverage prior to the Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U.S. 555 (1984) decision. In the Grove City decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the prohibition in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 against federal funding of sex discrimination extended only to the specific program or activity receiving the funds, and not to the entire recipient institution or entity. Since all the civil rights statutes relating to federal funds use the same language to describe coverage, the decision had the effect of also narrowing the scope of laws prohibiting federally subsidized discrimination based on race, disability and age.

The Civil Rights Restoration Act amends each of the affected statutes by adding a section defining the phrase "program or activity" to make clear that discrimination is prohibited throughout entire agencies or institutions if any part receives federal financial assistance.

Background

The Act passed the Senate on January 23, by a vote of 75-14. During two days of debate on the Civil Rights Restoration Act in the Senate, several amendments were offered which would have changed substantive law. All but one of the amendments were defeated. The defeated amendments include:

An amendment offered by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) that would have applied each statute's discrimination prohibition only to the portion of a religious institution that received federal assistance, not the entire institution. The amendment was rejected 36-56.

An amendment offered by Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) that would have limited the anti-discrimination requirements to a particular school receiving federal aid not the entire school system of which the school is a part. The amendment was defeated 16-70.

An amendment offered by Senator Orrin Hatch that would have broadened Title IX's exemption for religiously controlled institutions to include entities not controlled by but "closely identified" with the tenets of a religious organization. The amendment was defeated 39-56.

An amendment offered by Senator Hatch that would have provided institution wide coverage under the statutes only for educational institutions. The amendment was defeated 19-75.

An amendment offered by Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH) that would have exempted certain small providers, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, from Section 504's requirement that the facilities be accessible to the handicapped.