Justice Dept. Revokes 25 Legal Guidances, Impacting Civil Rights Protections

What’s the story?

As part of the Trump administration's broader deregulation efforts, the Justice Department revoked 25 legal guidance documents which they announced December 21. Of those 25, 16 concern civil rights protections. Ten of those 16 pertain to the Americans With Disabilities Act and one, notably, is a 2016 letter urging state and local judges not to impose fines and fees in a way that locks poor people into cycles of debt and prison.

That guidance was written after a Justice Department investigation into policing in Ferguson, MO discovered that the legal system there was being used as a moneymaking venture to target poor and minority residents.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions asserted that all the rescinded guidances were "unnecessary, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper."

However, Vanita Gupta, who headed the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under President Obama and issued the letter, insisted to the New York Times that the guidance was a necessary response to localities seeking advice following the Ferguson Report on what federal civil rights and constitutional law requires.

She also cited as precedent a 1983 Supreme Court ruling which declared that local governments could not imprison people for failing to pay fines they could not afford.

Sessions maintains that the revocation of the documents was in response to President Trump’s March executive order requiring agencies remove two regulations for every one added. Sessions argued that such deregulatory action was "good government":

"Therefore, any guidance that is outdated, used to circumvent the regulatory process, or that improperly goes beyond what is provided for in statutes or regulation should not be given effect. That is why today, we are ending 25 examples of improper or unnecessary guidance documents identified by our Regulatory Reform Task Force led by our Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand. We will continue to look for other examples to rescind, and we will uphold the rule of law."

What do you think?

Do you support the administration’s push for deregulation, or not? Do you worry that the revocation of these documents signals a turning away from civil rights protections, or is the effort, as Sessions calls it "good government"?

Tell us in the comments what you think, then use the Take Action button to tell your reps!

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— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Creative Commons)