Are Civil Rights Essential?

The U.S. government shutdown drags on, but not all workers are on equal footing.  Some workers have continued to work and get their paychecks.  And every day, we learn that more furloughed government workers are being called back to do “essential” work — processing tax refunds, approving applications for offshore drilling, inspecting the food supply –generally without pay but with the promise of back pay once the shutdown ends.

The essential work of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, however, continues to go undone.  Civil Rights Commission staff, aside from the staff director,  have been furloughed for the duration of the shutdown.  Important civil rights investigations stagnate.  The state-level civil rights advisory committees, usually staffed by Washington, D.C.-based workers, have cancelled hearings.  The civil rights watchdog function of the Commission is vacant.

No doubt the Administration likes it like this – free to make discriminatory policy decisions without any immediate pushback from within government.  And perhaps not coincidentally, conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation have long tried to abolish the Commission.  Now, the shutdown is doing the job.

The shuttering of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission is, in many ways, a potent symbol of this Administration’s policy goals.  That doesn’t make it right or acceptable.  While we call for an end to this senseless shutdown, we should also be asking, why aren’t civil rights essential?