by Jonathan Arogeti
Efforts by members of the Obama administration are restitching the fabric of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, largely frayed under the George W. Bush administration, according to a new article in the ABA Human Rights magazine by William Yeomans. And Yeomans should know the history of the Division. He served in multiple capacities there, from trial lawyer to acting assistant attorney general between 1981 and 2005, and until he left the Department of Justice in that year, had spent his entire career in the Department.
The “bipartisan consensus in support of enforcement of core civil rights protections” enjoyed
by the Division since its inception ensured equal voting rights, defeated employment discrimination, and integrated public schools. That consensus “proved inadequate during the Presidency of George W. Bush, as enforcement activity diminished sharply and partisan considerations affected law enforcement and personnel decision,” Yeomans writes.
Yeomans maintains that while enjoying the benefits of a Republican Congress, the Bush administration filed zero cases pertaining to voter discrimination of African-Americans. With the prospect of a Democratic Congress following the landslide 2006 midterm election, the administration finally exercised this particular section of the Voting Rights Act. Instead of protecting this country’s minorities, however, the Division alleged African-American discrimination against white voters.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez is bolstering the Civil Rights Division's efforts to enforce civil rights laws, 
