United States Commission on Civil Rights
Encyclopedia
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is historically a bipartisan, independent commission of the U.S. federal government charged with the responsibility for investigating, reporting on, and making recommendations concerning civil rights
issues that face the nation.
, two by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate
and two by the Speaker of the House of Representatives
.
During the Presidency of George W. Bush, Democrats criticized the panel for becoming dominated by conservatives after two Republican
commissioners reregistered as independents and President Bush appointed additional Republican members.
As of May 2011, the members of the Commission are:
, which was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
in response to a recommendation by an ad hoc President’s Committee on Civil Rights. In calling for a permanent commission, that committee stated:
"In a democratic society, the systematic, critical review of social needs and public policy is a fundamental necessity. This is especially true of a field like civil rights, where the problems are enduring, and range widely [and where] ... a temporary, sporadic approach can never finally solve these problems.
"No where in the federal government in there an agency charged with the continuous appraisal of the status of civil rights, and the efficiency of the machinery with which we hope to improve that status.... A permanent Commission could perform an invaluable function by collecting data.... Ultimately, this would make possible a periodic audit of the extent to which our civil rights are secure.... [The Commission should also] serve[] as a clearing house and focus of coordination for the many private, state, and local agencies working in the civil rights field, [and thus] would be invaluable to them and to the federal government.
"A permanent Commission on Civil Rights should point all of its work toward regular reports which would include recommendations for action in ensuing periods. It should lay plans for dealing with broad civil rights problems .... It should also investigate and make recommendations with respect to special civil rights problems."
As then-Senator and Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson
put it, the Commission’s task is to "gather facts instead of charges." "[I]t can sift out the truth from the fancies; and it can return with recommendations which will be of assistance to reasonable men."
Since the 1957 Act, the Commission has been re-authorized and re-configured by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Acts of 1983 and 1991 and the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994.
Soon after the passage of the 1957 Act, the then-six-member, bipartisan Commission–consisting of John A. Hannah
, President of Michigan State University, Robert Storey, Dean of the Southern Methodist University Law School, Father Theodore Hesburgh
, President of the University of Notre Dame, John Stewart Battle, former governor of Virginia, Ernest Wilkins
, a Department of Labor attorney, and Doyle E. Carlton
, former governor of Florida—set about to assemble a record.
Their first project was to look for evidence of racial discrimination in voting rights in Montgomery
. But they immediately ran into resistance. Circuit Judge George C. Wallace, Jr., who went on to greater notoriety as governor, ordered that voter registration records be impounded. "They are not going to get the records," he declared. "And if any agent of the Civil Rights Commission comes down to get them, they will be locked up. ... I repeat, I will jail any Civil Rights Commission agent who attempts to get the records." The hearing nevertheless went forward with no shortage of evidence. Witness after witness testified to inappropriate interference with his or her right to vote. The Commissioners spent the night at Maxwell Air Base, because the city’s hotels were all segregated.
From there, the Commission went on to hold hearings on the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education
in Nashville and on housing discrimination in Atlanta, Chicago and New York. The facts gathered in these and other hearings along with the Commission’s recommendations were presented not just to Congress and the President but the American people generally, and they become part of the foundation upon which the Civil Rights Act of 1960
, the Civil Rights Act of 1964
, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 were built.
The revolution in public opinion that occurred during the late 1950s and early 1960s on issues of civil rights can hardly be overstated. And although the Commission on Civil Rights was not the only institution that helped bring about that change, it was a significant factor. In 1956, the year before the 1957 Act, less than half of white Americans agreed with the statement, "White students and Negro students should go to the same schools." By 1963, the year before the 1964 Act, that figure had jumped to 62%. In 1956, a healthy majority of white Americans–60%–opposed "separate sections for Negroes on streetcars and buses." By 1963, the number had grown to 79% opposed–an overwhelming majority. Even in the South, minds were being changed. In 1956, only 27% of Southern whites opposed separate sections on public transportation for blacks and whites. By 1963, the number had become a majority of 52%.
The change in views about the desirability of a federal law was even more dramatic. As late as July 1963, only 49% of the total population favored a federal law that would give "all persons, Negro as well as white, the right to be served in public places such as hotels, restaurants, and similar establishments," and 42% opposed. By September of the same year, a majority of 54% was in favor, and 38% opposed. In February 1964, support had climbed to 61% and opposition had declined to 31%.
In 1972, Juanita Goggins
became the first black woman to serve on the Commission. President Ronald Reagan
appointed Howard University
graduate Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., as the first black chairman of the Commission. Pendleton served until his death in 1988. Reagan also named Esther Buckley (born 1948), an Hispanic
high school
teacher from Laredo
, Texas
, to the panel. She was a former and future chairman of the Webb County
Republican Party.
Commissioner Gail Heriot put it in her September 5, 2007 testimony before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, "If the value of a federal agency could be calculated on a per dollar basis, it would not surprise me to find the Commission on Civil Rights to be among the best investments Congress ever made. My back-of-the-envelope calculation is that the Commission now accounts for less than 1/2000th of 1% of the federal budget; back in the late 1950s its size would have been roughly similar. And yet its impact has been dramatic."
In more recent years, Congress relied on a Commission report in enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. In 2008, President George W. Bush
announced that he would oppose the proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act shortly after the Commission issued a report recommending against the bill.
The Commission has appointed 51 State Advisory Committees (SACs) to function as the "eyes and ears" of the Commission in their respective locations. The Commission’s enabling legislation authorizes the creation of these SACs and directs the Commission to establish at least one advisory committee in every state and the District of Columbia. Each state committee has a charter that enables it to operate and identifies its members. Each charter is valid for a term of two years, and the committee terminates if the charter is not renewed by the Commission. Each committee has a minimum of eleven members. The SACs are supported by regional offices whose primary function is to assist them in their planning, fact-finding, and reporting activities. Like the Commission, the SACs produce written reports that are based on fact finding hearings and other public meetings.
President Ronald Reagan attempted to exercise the power to dismiss by firing Carter appointee Mary Frances Berry. Berry, however, convinced Congress to re-charter the Commission in a way that would protect members from dismissal without cause. It was out of this re-chartering effort that the "watch dog" model for the Commission emerged. Along with Berry, Ford appointee Rabbi Murray Saltzman
was fired by President Reagan for referring to Reagan's policy regarding the Commission to that of a "lap dog" rather than a "watch dog."
Under the re-charter, the Commission was given eight members rather than the original six. Only half would be appointed by the President, and a President would ordinarily have to be elected to two terms before he could appoint more than two. First-term Presidents would thus ordinarily have to wait a year or two before they would have any representation at all, and it would take time before all the appointees of previous Presidents would rotate off. The remaining four members would be appointed by Congressional leaders of both houses and both parties. All of this was thought to be crucial to maintaining the Commission's independence from the President, which in turn was thought necessary to the Commission's role as a civil rights watch dog. Since then, the Commission has sometimes been a thorn in the side of sitting Presidents.
Journals
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
issues that face the nation.
Commissioners
The Commission is composed of eight Commissioners. Four are appointed by the President of the United StatesPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, two by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
The President pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate despite not being a member of the body...
and two by the Speaker of the House of Representatives
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
.
During the Presidency of George W. Bush, Democrats criticized the panel for becoming dominated by conservatives after two Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
commissioners reregistered as independents and President Bush appointed additional Republican members.
As of May 2011, the members of the Commission are:
- Martin R. Castro, Chair (D) – President and CEO of Castro Synergies, LLC (appointed by President Obama, January 2011).
- Abigail ThernstromAbigail ThernstromAbigail Thernstrom, a conservative political scientist, is a former Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York, a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and vice chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She received her Ph.D...
, Vice-Chair (R) – Manhattan Institute political scientist and former member of the Massachusetts Board of Education (appointed by Congress, 2001; switched registration to "Independent" when appointed Vice-Chair by President Bush, 2004; switched registration back to Republican and reappointed to USCCR by President Bush in 2007; term will expire in 2013). - Gail Heriot (I) – University of San DiegoUniversity of San DiegoThe University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic university in San Diego, California. USD offers more than sixty bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral programs...
law professor; alternate delegate to the 2000 Republican Convention (appointed by Senate, February 2007). - Peter N. Kirsanow (R) – Cleveland attorney and former member of the National Labor Relations BoardNational Labor Relations BoardThe National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
(appointed by President Bush, December 2006). - David Kladney (D) – awyer in private solo practice in Reno, NV).
- Roberta AchtenbergRoberta AchtenbergRoberta Achtenberg is an American politician. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S...
(D) – Corporate Advisor in Public Policy and California State University Trustee (appointed by President Obama, January 2011). - Michael YakiMichael YakiMichael Yaki is a San Francisco attorney currently serving as a commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, succeeding Christopher Edley, Jr. in February 2005. Yaki graduated from UC Berkeley in 1983, and then from Yale Law School in 1986...
(D) – San Francisco attorney and former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (re-appointed by Congress in April 2011). - Todd F. Gaziano (I) – Senior Fellow in Legal Studies and the Director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation (appointed by Republican minority in Congress, 2007).
History
The Commission was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, , primarily a voting rights bill, was the first civil rights legislation enacted by Congress in the United States since Reconstruction following the American Civil War.Following the historic US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v...
, which was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
in response to a recommendation by an ad hoc President’s Committee on Civil Rights. In calling for a permanent commission, that committee stated:
"In a democratic society, the systematic, critical review of social needs and public policy is a fundamental necessity. This is especially true of a field like civil rights, where the problems are enduring, and range widely [and where] ... a temporary, sporadic approach can never finally solve these problems.
"No where in the federal government in there an agency charged with the continuous appraisal of the status of civil rights, and the efficiency of the machinery with which we hope to improve that status.... A permanent Commission could perform an invaluable function by collecting data.... Ultimately, this would make possible a periodic audit of the extent to which our civil rights are secure.... [The Commission should also] serve[] as a clearing house and focus of coordination for the many private, state, and local agencies working in the civil rights field, [and thus] would be invaluable to them and to the federal government.
"A permanent Commission on Civil Rights should point all of its work toward regular reports which would include recommendations for action in ensuing periods. It should lay plans for dealing with broad civil rights problems .... It should also investigate and make recommendations with respect to special civil rights problems."
As then-Senator and Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
put it, the Commission’s task is to "gather facts instead of charges." "[I]t can sift out the truth from the fancies; and it can return with recommendations which will be of assistance to reasonable men."
Since the 1957 Act, the Commission has been re-authorized and re-configured by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Acts of 1983 and 1991 and the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994.
Soon after the passage of the 1957 Act, the then-six-member, bipartisan Commission–consisting of John A. Hannah
John A. Hannah
John Alfred Hannah was president of Michigan State College for 28 years, making him the longest serving of MSU's presidents. He is credited with transforming the school from a little-known, regional agricultural college into a large national research institution...
, President of Michigan State University, Robert Storey, Dean of the Southern Methodist University Law School, Father Theodore Hesburgh
Theodore Hesburgh
The Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC, STD , a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, is President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. He is the namesake for TIAA-CREF's Hesburgh Award....
, President of the University of Notre Dame, John Stewart Battle, former governor of Virginia, Ernest Wilkins
J. Ernest Wilkins, Sr.
Jesse Ernest Wilkins, Sr. was a notable African American lawyer, labor leader and undersecretary in the Eisenhower administration.- Education and early career :...
, a Department of Labor attorney, and Doyle E. Carlton
Doyle E. Carlton
Doyle Elam Carlton was the 25th Governor of Florida.-Early life:Doyle Carlton the son of Albert and Martha Carlton was born in Wauchula, Florida. He had one younger brother, Leland Francis Carlton. He received his primary education in Wauchula and, as there was then no local high school, he then...
, former governor of Florida—set about to assemble a record.
Their first project was to look for evidence of racial discrimination in voting rights in Montgomery
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
. But they immediately ran into resistance. Circuit Judge George C. Wallace, Jr., who went on to greater notoriety as governor, ordered that voter registration records be impounded. "They are not going to get the records," he declared. "And if any agent of the Civil Rights Commission comes down to get them, they will be locked up. ... I repeat, I will jail any Civil Rights Commission agent who attempts to get the records." The hearing nevertheless went forward with no shortage of evidence. Witness after witness testified to inappropriate interference with his or her right to vote. The Commissioners spent the night at Maxwell Air Base, because the city’s hotels were all segregated.
From there, the Commission went on to hold hearings on the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
in Nashville and on housing discrimination in Atlanta, Chicago and New York. The facts gathered in these and other hearings along with the Commission’s recommendations were presented not just to Congress and the President but the American people generally, and they become part of the foundation upon which the Civil Rights Act of 1960
Civil Rights Act of 1960
The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration rolls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote or to vote...
, the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 were built.
The revolution in public opinion that occurred during the late 1950s and early 1960s on issues of civil rights can hardly be overstated. And although the Commission on Civil Rights was not the only institution that helped bring about that change, it was a significant factor. In 1956, the year before the 1957 Act, less than half of white Americans agreed with the statement, "White students and Negro students should go to the same schools." By 1963, the year before the 1964 Act, that figure had jumped to 62%. In 1956, a healthy majority of white Americans–60%–opposed "separate sections for Negroes on streetcars and buses." By 1963, the number had grown to 79% opposed–an overwhelming majority. Even in the South, minds were being changed. In 1956, only 27% of Southern whites opposed separate sections on public transportation for blacks and whites. By 1963, the number had become a majority of 52%.
The change in views about the desirability of a federal law was even more dramatic. As late as July 1963, only 49% of the total population favored a federal law that would give "all persons, Negro as well as white, the right to be served in public places such as hotels, restaurants, and similar establishments," and 42% opposed. By September of the same year, a majority of 54% was in favor, and 38% opposed. In February 1964, support had climbed to 61% and opposition had declined to 31%.
In 1972, Juanita Goggins
Juanita Goggins
Juanita W. Goggins was the first African-American woman elected to the South Carolina legislature. She was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1974, and served three terms before resigning for health reasons in 1980.A former teacher and the wife of a dentist, Goggins was also...
became the first black woman to serve on the Commission. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
appointed Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
graduate Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., as the first black chairman of the Commission. Pendleton served until his death in 1988. Reagan also named Esther Buckley (born 1948), an Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
teacher from Laredo
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, to the panel. She was a former and future chairman of the Webb County
Webb County, Texas
Webb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The official 2010 population for the county is 250,304. In 2000, its population was 193,117, and in 2006 its population had been estimated to have reached to 231,470. Its county seat is Laredo...
Republican Party.
Commissioner Gail Heriot put it in her September 5, 2007 testimony before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, "If the value of a federal agency could be calculated on a per dollar basis, it would not surprise me to find the Commission on Civil Rights to be among the best investments Congress ever made. My back-of-the-envelope calculation is that the Commission now accounts for less than 1/2000th of 1% of the federal budget; back in the late 1950s its size would have been roughly similar. And yet its impact has been dramatic."
In more recent years, Congress relied on a Commission report in enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. In 2008, President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
announced that he would oppose the proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act shortly after the Commission issued a report recommending against the bill.
Commission structure
The eight commissioners serve six-year staggered terms. Four are appointed by the President, two by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and two by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. No more than four Commissioners can be of the same political party. In addition, neither the two Senate appointees nor the two House appointees may be of the same political party. With the concurrence of a majority of the Commission’s members, the President designates a Chair and a Vice Chair. The Staff Director is also appointed by the President with the concurrence of a majority of the Commissioners.The Commission has appointed 51 State Advisory Committees (SACs) to function as the "eyes and ears" of the Commission in their respective locations. The Commission’s enabling legislation authorizes the creation of these SACs and directs the Commission to establish at least one advisory committee in every state and the District of Columbia. Each state committee has a charter that enables it to operate and identifies its members. Each charter is valid for a term of two years, and the committee terminates if the charter is not renewed by the Commission. Each committee has a minimum of eleven members. The SACs are supported by regional offices whose primary function is to assist them in their planning, fact-finding, and reporting activities. Like the Commission, the SACs produce written reports that are based on fact finding hearings and other public meetings.
Civil Rights Watch Dog
The Commission is often referred to as a "Civil Rights Watch Dog" that ensures the federal government is enforcing civil rights laws fairly and evenhandedly. Interestingly, this is a role the Commission has undertaken only in the last few decades. The original Commission was not configured to be an effective watch dog, since all its members were appointed by the President (subject to Senate confirmation)and were subject to dismissal by the President at any time. Moreover, there were no civil rights laws for the federal government to enforce and thus little for the Commission to oversee.President Ronald Reagan attempted to exercise the power to dismiss by firing Carter appointee Mary Frances Berry. Berry, however, convinced Congress to re-charter the Commission in a way that would protect members from dismissal without cause. It was out of this re-chartering effort that the "watch dog" model for the Commission emerged. Along with Berry, Ford appointee Rabbi Murray Saltzman
Murray Saltzman
Murray Saltzman was a reform Jewish rabbi and civil rights leader. Born to a Russian-immigrant family, he was the youngest of three sons. He led congregations in Maryland, Indianapolis, and Florida, among them Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. Saltzman was...
was fired by President Reagan for referring to Reagan's policy regarding the Commission to that of a "lap dog" rather than a "watch dog."
Under the re-charter, the Commission was given eight members rather than the original six. Only half would be appointed by the President, and a President would ordinarily have to be elected to two terms before he could appoint more than two. First-term Presidents would thus ordinarily have to wait a year or two before they would have any representation at all, and it would take time before all the appointees of previous Presidents would rotate off. The remaining four members would be appointed by Congressional leaders of both houses and both parties. All of this was thought to be crucial to maintaining the Commission's independence from the President, which in turn was thought necessary to the Commission's role as a civil rights watch dog. Since then, the Commission has sometimes been a thorn in the side of sitting Presidents.
Further reading
Books- Gabriel J. ChinGabriel J. ChinGabriel Jack Chin is an author, legal scholar, and Professor at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. Chin is the Chester H. Smith Professor of Law and co-director of the Program in Criminal Law and Policy at the James E. Rogers College of Law, and Professor at the School of...
ed., U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on Asian Pacific Americans (2005) ISBN 978-0837731056 - Gabriel J. Chin ed., U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on the Police (2005) ISBN 978-0837731049
- Gabriel J. Chin & Lori Wagner eds., U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on Voting (2005) ISBN 978-0837731032
Journals
- The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 22 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 447 (1987)
External links
- U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Memphis Civil Rights Digital Archive's Collection of Transcripts from hearing on Civil Rights in 1962
- Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, a project of the University of Maryland School of Law, Thurgood Marshall Law Library
- Legislative History of the Commission
- Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the United States Commission on Civil Rights