The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Civil Rights Monitor
Winter 2007

• Introduction

On the Hill

• The Year in Judicial and Executive Nominations
• D.C. Voting Rights: Closer than Ever
• Hate Crimes Bill Moves through Congress
• Fighting to Preserve and Restore Workers' Rights
• The Immigration Reform Debate Continues
• Congress Begins Addressing Subprime Mortgage Fallout
• Successes and Setbacks on ENDA
• Backlash against the REAL ID Act Grows

Executive Branch

• Deja Vu at the FCC?

In the Courts

• Supreme Court Hands Down Major Decision on School Integration

In the States

• New Threats to Affirmative Action

LCCREF Activities

• Civil Rights Enforcement Takes Center Stage
• Leadership Conference Steps Up Anti-Poverty Efforts
• New Civil Rights Partnership Calls Attention to Nation's High School Crisis
• Why Americans Should Care about the Great Switch to DTV
• President Clinton, John Hope Franklin, and Tammy Duckworth Are 2007 Hubert H. Humphrey Honorees

Hate Crimes Bill Moves Through Congress

This year, Congress came closer than ever in addressing a critical gap in current federal hate crimes law and expanded existing hate crimes coverage to include violence based on sexual orientation, gender, and disability.

"This is the closest we've been to enacting a more inclusive hate crimes bill," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR). "We applaud Congress for recognizing the pressing importance of this vital legislation."

The bill, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA), also provides grants to state and local communities to combat violent crimes committed by juveniles, train law enforcement officers, and/or to assist in state and local investigations and prosecutions of bias motivated crimes.

Most hate crimes are prosecuted by local authorities, but civil rights groups and law enforcement experts say that federal support is crucial in some cases.

"This bill would give law enforcement important tools to combat bias-motivated crime. Federal support will help to ensure that these hate crimes are investigated and prosecuted," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Though the bill has had bipartisan support in the past -- most recently, a bipartisan majority in the House passed it overwhelming in 2005 -- civil rights groups worked overtime to ensure that the new Democratic Congress this year would finally pass the bill and get it to President Bush's desk.

Following introduction in the House on March 20, 2007, the LLEHCPA was introduced in the Senate on April 12 by its chief co-sponsors, Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, Mass., and Republican Senator Gordon Smith, Ore.

At the press conference, the two senators announced their decision to rename the Senate version The Matthew Shepard Act, after the hate crime victim murdered in Laramie, Wyoming nearly 10 years ago.

Despite bipartisan support, opposition to the LLEHCPA has been fierce, especially among some in the religious community who claim that the bill infringes on First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

However, more than 1,400 ministers across the nation signed a petition in support of the LLEHCPA on a website, ClergyAgainstHate.org, created by The Interfaith Alliance (TIA), the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA), and the Religious Action Center (RAC).

 "Endorsement of this bill by faith leaders is especially important because opponents have all too often implied that the legislation is hostile to religion. The voices of a broad range of clergymen and women who preach that tolerance, acceptance, and kindness are essential religious values are needed more than ever," said Rabbi David Saperstein, director and counsel of RAC.

The LLEHCPA passed in the House on May 4, 2007 by a vote of 237-180. Because the Democratic majority was slim in the Senate, Sens. Kennedy and Smith decided to add the bill as an amendment to the Department of Defense bill.

On September 27, 2007, after a successful vote (60-39) to stop debate, the bill was added to the DOD bill and passed by voice vote.

"For over a decade our community has worked tirelessly to ensure protections to combat violence motivated by hate and today we are the closest we have ever been to seeing that become a reality," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

But on December 6, 2007, the hate crimes provision was dropped from the defense bill, a move that was a major disappointment to civil rights groups.

"Though the urgency of a hate crimes bill was beyond dispute, it was defeated by two forces: organized opposition from the House Republican leadership in deference to an intolerant segment of their base and some progressive Democrats who elevated symbolism over substance, knowing that this was the last clear chance to pass a hate crimes bill this term. This perverse form of bipartisanship is responsible for blocking what would have been the most significant gain in federal protections against hate crimes in nearly two decades," LCCR's Henderson said.

A hate crime is defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as an act of violence motivated by race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.

Recent data shows that hate violence continues to be a problem in the U.S. According to the most recent FBI data, 7,722 incidents of hate crimes were reported in 2006, up 8 percent from 2005.

Despite the increase in hate crime incidents, civil rights groups have expressed concerned about the lack of participation of law enforcement agencies around the nation. Only 16.7 percent of participating agencies reported even a single hate crime and nearly 5,000 police departments across the country did not participate in the FBI reporting program at all.