Department of Justice Civil Rights Division

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
File:File:Seal of the United States Department of Justice.svg
Seal of the United States Department of Justice
Division Overview
Formed	December 9, 1957 (1957-12-09)
Jurisdiction	United States government agency
Headquarters	Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C., United States
Annual budget	$162 million (2015)
Division Executives	Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Parent department	U.S. Department of Justice
Website
[{{{url}}} Official Site - {{{text}}}]

The Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin.

The division was established on December 9, 1957, by order of Attorney General William P. Rogers, after the Civil Rights Act of 1957 created the head office of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (AAG-CR; appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate). In 2021, Kristen Clarke became the first woman confirmed to the position.

Organization

• Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights

Appellate Section
Coordination and Review Section 
Criminal Section 
Disability Rights Section 
Educational Opportunities Section 
Employment Litigation Section 
Housing and Civil Enforcement Section 
Immigrant and Employee Rights Section
Policy & Strategy Section
Special Litigation Section 
Voting Section

Jurisdiction

The Division enforces

• the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968
• the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended through 2006
• the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974
• the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
• the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009
• the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986
• the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984
• the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980, which authorizes the Attorney General to seek relief for persons confined in public institutions where conditions exist that deprive residents of their constitutional rights
• the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994
• the Police Misconduct Provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
• the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000
• the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
• Section 102 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin and citizenship status as well as document abuse and retaliation under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

In addition, the Division prosecutes actions under several criminal civil rights statutes which were designed to preserve personal liberties and safety.

Assistant Attorneys General

File:Drew S. Days, III.jpg

Drew S. Days III was the first African-American Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

  denotes head that served as acting Assistant Attorney General

#	Head	Took office	Left office	Party	Administration	Template:Tooltip
Template:Ntsh1	W. Wilson White	1957	1960	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Template:Ntsh2	Harold R. Tyler	1960	1961	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Template:Ntsh3	Burke Marshall	1961	1965	Democratic	John F. Kennedy
Template:Ntsh4	John Doar	1965	1967	Republican	Lyndon B. Johnson
Template:Ntsh5	Stephen J. Pollak	1967	1969	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson
Template:Ntsh6	Jerris Leonard	1969	1971	Republican	Richard Nixon
Template:Ntsh7	David Luke Norman	1971	1973	Republican	Richard Nixon
Template:Ntsh8	J. Stanley Pottinger	1973	1977	Republican	Richard Nixon
Template:Ntsh9	Drew S. Days	1977	1980	Democratic	Jimmy Carter
Template:Ntsh10	William Bradford Reynolds	1981	1988	Republican	Ronald Reagan
Template:Ntsh–	William C. Lucas (acting)	1988	1989	Republican	Ronald Reagan
Template:Ntsh–	James P. Turner (acting)	1989	1990	Republican	Ronald Reagan
Template:Ntsh11	John R. Dunne	1990	1993	Republican	George H. W. Bush
Template:Ntsh–	James P. Turner (acting)	1993	1994	Democratic	Bill Clinton
Template:Ntsh12	Deval Patrick	1994	1997	Democratic	Bill Clinton
Template:Ntsh13	Bill Lann Lee	1997	2001	Democratic	Bill Clinton
Template:Ntsh14	Ralph F. Boyd	2001	2003	Republican	George W. Bush
Template:Ntsh–	Bradley Schlozman (acting)	2003	2003	Republican	George W. Bush
Template:Ntsh15	Alexander Acosta	2003	2005	Republican	George W. Bush
Template:Ntsh16	Wan J. Kim	2005	2007	Republican	George W. Bush
Template:Ntsh–	Grace Chung Becker (acting)	2008	2008	Republican	George W. Bush
Template:Ntsh17	Thomas Perez	2009	2013	Democratic	Barack Obama
Template:Ntsh–	Jocelyn Samuels (acting)	2013	2014	Democratic	Barack Obama
Template:Ntsh–	Molly J. Moran (acting)	2014	2014	Democratic	Barack Obama
Template:Ntsh–	Vanita Gupta (acting)	2014	2017	Democratic	Barack Obama
Template:Ntsh–	Thomas E. Wheeler II (acting)	2017	2017	Republican	Donald Trump
Template:Ntsh–	John M. Gore (acting)	2017	2018	Republican	Donald Trump
Template:Ntsh18	Eric Dreiband	2018	2021	Republican	Donald Trump
Template:Ntsh19	Kristen Clarke	2021	-	Democratic	Joe Biden

External links

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