A Leap Backwards
The United States Department of Justice, more commonly referred to as the DOJ or the Justice Department, is a federal department of the government that is responsible for the enforcement of administrative justice and law within the United States. With their mission statement being, “to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans,” the DOJ has utilized court-enforced agreements to protects the rights of LGBTQ Americans, reform police departments, ensure access for the disabled, defend the religious, desegregate schools, and protect the Civil Rights of minorities. However, recently the Trump Administration has caused the DOJ to turn away from its mission statement and rollback much of the progress made by previous administration. With changes in voting law enforcement, protections of students, and protection of LGBTQ Americans, it can be seen that our current administration is taking a leap back in time and negating the progress that our society has made.
In the area of voting rights, it can be seen that the DOJ has reversed its position on protecting the rights of minority voters. Under Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department has not filed a single new action seeking to protect the voting rights of minority voters. When compared to other interest groups such as The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law who have filed seven new actions, it can be seen that the highest law enforcement agency in our country is being underproductive and it’s potentially affecting the equality of Americans. The DOJ has also altered its approach to other voting rights cases like Texas Voter ID Laws. Under the Obama administration, the DOJ made it clear that these laws were written to intentionally discriminate against minority voters. Now, the Trump DOJ has altered the previous stance of the DOJ and supported these voter ID laws. It can be seen that the DOJ is taking a politicized view of the law instead of upholding the integrity of the courts.
The DOJ has also reversed its stance in areas that deal with student protections. Under the Obama administration, the DOJ investigated individual complaints of students that had to deal with complex issues such as school discipline, sexual violence and harassment, equal access to educational resources, or racism. Any time the DOJ received any of these complains, a probe was launched to determine whether these complaints were part of a pattern of discrimination and harassment. Now, the Education Department has reversed that reform that broadened the DOJ’s approach to protecting the rights of students which has led to a decrease in the number of probes and a decrease in the rights of students.
LGBTQ Americans have also been affected negatively by the DOJ’s reversal of stances. The DOJ released a memo on October 4th that declared that federal civil rights laws don’t protect transgender people from discrimination at work. This memo specifically referred to the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Acts, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex. In another incident, the DOJ filed a brief in the Supreme Court case of a Christian baker who declined to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. The DOJ took the side of the baker, which basically ignored the fact that religion has historically been used in justifying discrimination. This could potentially open up windows for further discrimination under the guise of religion.
With the reversal of many of the DOJ’s stances, the rights of many Americans are under threat. Voting rights, student’s rights, and LGBTQ rights are all in danger, which has negated decades of progress made by previous administrations. The longer the DOJ is allowed to operate within this ever-receding sphere, the larger our leap backwards in time will be. If we allow these injustices to continue, then another movement like the Civil Rights Movement might be seen again in the United States, and minorities will have to sacrifice everything to get these rights back.
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