Justice Dept. Reshapes Its Civil Rights Mission - More Focus on Christianist Agenda

The New York Times has an article on what the Bush Administration has done to the Justice Department and how the civil rights of various groups is now a lower priority so that efforts can be directed toward matters on the Christianists' agenda of giving their version of Christianity special status, even when accepting federal tax dollars derived from all taxpayers http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/washington/14discrim.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1181834971-iCGYKPZXuq/7ymJ/mK8aWw). The changes are evident in a variety of actions:

**Intervening in federal court cases on behalf of religion-based groups like the Salvation Army that assert they have the right to discriminate in hiring in favor of people who share their beliefs even though they are running charitable programs with federal money.

**Supporting groups that want to send home religious literature with schoolchildren; in one case, the government helped win the right of a group in Massachusetts to distribute candy canes as part of a religious message that the red stripes represented the blood of Christ.

**Vigorously enforcing a law enacted by Congress in 2000 that allows churches and other places of worship to be free of some local zoning restrictions.

**Taking on far fewer hate crimes and cases in which local law enforcement officers may have violated someone’s civil rights. The resources for these traditional cases have instead been used to investigate trafficking cases, typically involving foreign women used in the sex trade, a favored issue of the religious right.

**Sharply reducing the complex lawsuits that challenge voting plans that might dilute the strength of black voters. The department initiated only one such case through the early part of this year, compared with eight in a comparable period in the Clinton administration.

The last item, of course, dove tails nicely with the GOP goal of suppressing the vote of groups that may be inclined to vote against GOP candidates. Equally frightening is the following:

Along with its changed civil rights mission, the department has also tried to overhaul the roster of government lawyers who deal with civil rights. The agency has transferred or demoted some experienced civil rights litigators while bringing in lawyers, including graduates of religious-affiliated law schools and some people vocal about their faith, who favor the new priorities. That has created some unease, with some career lawyers disdainfully referring to the newcomers as “holy hires.”

Figures provided by the department show that from 2003 through 2006, there was a notable increase of hirings from religious-affiliated institutions like Regent University and Ave Maria University.

Both of the above named law schools are bottom tier institutions and certainly do not produce the number of capable graduates as a Harvard or Yale. But as we have learned with Chimperator Bush and his deputies, competency is never an issue. Only ideology and loyalty to the far right of the GOP matter. If this trend is not stopped, I fear for this country.