CIVIL RIGHTS POLICIES, ANALYSIS, AND RESOURCES
Latest Civil Rights Posts
Trump Administration Threatens US-Russian Nuclear Treaty
Brief #74—Civil Rights Police Summary On December 4th, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced to a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels that Russia was in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and had 60 days to come into...
Wide Bipartisan Support For FIRST STEP Act, A Criminal Justice Reform Bill
Brief #73—Civil Rights Policy Summary: On May 7, 2018, Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) introduced the FIRST STEP Act bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The FIRST STEP Act is a bill that contains numerous reforms to help improve the criminal justice system...
State Voter Suppression Tactics Continue Even After The Elections
Brief #72—Civil Rights Policy Summary In the aftermath of the 2018 midterm elections which saw the Democratic Party make significant gains with additional seats in the House of Representatives and the number of state governorships, state legislators in four swing...
North Carolina Election Highlights Need To Prioritize Election Integrity; State Elections
Brief #71—Civil Rights Policy Summary On November 6, 2018, the United States held its biennial federal elections. As dictated by the U.S. Constitution, every seat in the House of Representatives was up for election as well as the required 1/3 of the total Senate seats...
Federal Oversight of Local Police Stifled by New DOJ Policy; Federal Agency Action
On November 7, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the memorandum “Principles and Procedures for Civil Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements with State and Local Government Entities” to the Department of Justice (DOJ). He issued the memorandum moments before he resigned as Attorney General. Consent decrees are often used by the department in order to force state and local entities to comply with constitutional and federal laws.
Two Important Georgia Voting Cases Issue Rulings Days Before 2018 Election
Brief #69---Civil Rights Policy Summary: On October 30, 2018, Judge Leigh Martin May of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp's request to stay an injunction that the judge issued the...
California and U.S. Department of Justice Reach Tentative Agreement in Ongoing Net Neutrality Fight
In 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) promulgated the “Restoring Internet Freedom Order.” That order rolled back regulations from 2015 that were originally intended to bar Internet service providers from blocking or slowing down access to content or charging users more for selected content.
Voter Suppression Accusations Takes Center Stage In 2018 Georgia Gubernatorial Race
On October 11, 2018, a federal lawsuit was filed in a federal district court in Georgia to prevent the “exact match” protocol used by the Elections Division of the Georgia Secretary of State Office, which organizes and oversees all election activity in the state.
When Sexual Assault Survivors Demanded To Be Heard The U.S. Senate Deliberately Chose To Ignore
President Donald J. Trump, on July 9, 2018, nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court.