justice department
May 21, 2020 -
Previous efforts to pass a hate crimes law in Georgia have failed, but Ahmaud Arbery's killing has renewed the urgency to move legislation there. South Carolina is also once again considering putting a hate crime law on its books.
March 13, 2019 -
In response to Republican voter suppression efforts in the states, congressional Democrats want to restore the Supreme Court-stricken Voting Rights Act provision that required federal preclearance of election changes in places with a history of voter discrimination. Here's how they're proposing to do that and the places that would be covered.
January 18, 2019 -
In his Jan. 15 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on President Trump's pick of William Barr for U.S. attorney general, NAACP President Derrick Johnson called on members to reject the nominee, saying he lacks "a record of strong commitment to civil rights in which communities of color could place their trust."
May 10, 2018 -
As federal courts have released some school districts from orders requiring desegregation, schools in the South have become more racially segregated than they've been in 50 years. Trump's judicial nominees and his Department of Justice could make things worse.
March 29, 2018 -
For years, Southern state legislators have tried to defend racial gerrymandering by claiming that it's required by the Voting Rights Act. Now the Trump administration is pointing to the same law to justify a new census question about citizenship.
February 22, 2018 -
As civil rights groups challenge racially discriminatory judicial elections under the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina legislators are moving forward with a judicial gerrymandering plan that could lead to less racial diversity on the bench.
October 27, 2016 -
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's calls for his supporters to monitor the polls in 2016 raises the specter of the South's long history of voter intimidation. Voting rights advocates are ramping up their own poll monitoring in response.
