A Poor Choice on Civil Rights

The New York Times
March 17, 2008
Editorial
A Poor Choice on Civil Rights
President Bush has made yet another ill-considered nomination to the Justice Department, this time selecting Grace Chung Becker to be assistant attorney general for the civil rights division. It is a critically important job, responsible for protecting the rights of racial and religious minorities, the disabled and other groups. The division has been improperly politicized in recent years, and it has worked to undermine the very rights it is supposed to protect.
Ms. Becker is now the acting head of this troubled office, and at her confirmation hearing last week, she failed to show that she is up to the task of setting it right.
The civil rights division has been in sorry shape for some time. At Congressional hearings last year, its former head admitted that he boasted of hiring Republicans for nonpolitical attorney positions.
The division also has repeatedly taken anti-civil-rights stands. Notoriously, it endorsed a Georgia voter ID law that was widely likened to a poll tax because it charged people for the ID they needed to vote.
The Senate should only confirm a division head who demonstrates a commitment both to fixing these problems and rooting out the damage that has been done. Ms. Becker fails on both counts. When Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, asked about the department’s politicized hiring, she insisted it was improper for her to answer because an investigation is under way.
That is a made-up rule. Congress, which oversees the Justice Department, has a right to have its questions answered. If Ms. Becker is this contemptuous of the Senate’s role at her confirmation hearings, it is disturbing to think how dismissive she will be if she is confirmed.
Ms. Becker has also taken stands that undermine civil rights. She signed a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold an Indiana voter ID law that would disenfranchise many minority voters. The position she took was helpful for the Republican Party, but it hurt the people she was supposed to look out for. When asked why she signed the brief, Ms. Becker again stonewalled.
Before the Senate Judiciary Committee votes, it is expected to give Ms. Becker written follow-up questions. Perhaps she will have better answers then, but it is hard to see how she can overcome the serious concerns that have been raised about her nomination.