Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez at the National Press Club on Friday (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).
Appearing at the National Press Club on Friday, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez gave an impassioned speech on his vision for the Civil Rights Division, while criticizing its actions under the George W. Bush administration with the harshest language he has used to date.
“I learned, to my great disappointment, that those who had been entrusted with the keys to the division, and to its great power to pursue justice, treated the division instead like a buffet line at the cafeteria, cherry‐picking which laws to enforce,” Perez said in prepared remarks before the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
“I’ve seen the eyes and the faces of the wonderful career professionals who toiled during the last eight years, who did their best and did so much, but it was so difficult,” said Perez during his speech.
“I must say I wasn’t surprised by much of the data [showing fewer civil rights prosecutions in other areas during the Bush administration]. I rather expected it, but I was rather shocked in the hate crimes setting because Ed Meese made hate crimes a priority, Brad Reynolds made hate crimes a priority, John Dunne made hate crimes a priority, George Herbert Walker Bush made the prosecution of hate crimes a priority, Bill Clinton made the prosecution of hate crimes a priority, and Barack Obama and Eric Holder will once again make the prosecution of hate crimes a significant priority,” said Perez.
Touching on his theme of transformation and revitalization of the Civil Rights Division, Perez said that it must recognize “emerging areas of interest, areas where the Civil Rights Division may not have played a large role historically, but must play a large role today. One essential area is the area of civil rights and human rights, recognizing that we must set an example for the world.”
Perez recounted his testimony before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary panel last week on how the Civil Rights Division saw its role in implementing several international human rights treaties. He said the division would be working closely with the State Department on international human rights issues to make sure that the U.S. is in compliance with those treaties.
“We are the nation’s problem-solvers, not simply the nation’s litigators,” said Perez. “I’m a firm believer that if you want a job done well, give it to a busy person, and we’re having a lot of busy people at our department,” said Perez.
The conclusion of Perez’s speech, filmed by Main Justice, can be viewed below. The full speech, as aired on C-SPAN, can be viewed here.
