Lawyers Group Blasts Trump's 100 Days as "Massive Rollback on Civil Rights Enforcement"

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, issued the following statement on the “first 100 days” of the administration of President Donald Trump:

“In the first 100 days of this administration, we have seen a series of unlawful and misguided executive orders, the imposition of a discriminatory Muslim Ban, a massive rollback on federal civil rights enforcement and a resulting wave of litigation across the country challenging this administration’s unlawful actions.

This administration must reverse course before causing further damage to American democracy.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law will continue to mount litigation, as it has already done, challenging discriminatory actions taken by this administration. 

We will use the courts as the forum to check this administration’s efforts to turn the clock back on fragile civil rights gains that have been made.”

In Trump's first 100 days, the new administration has:

• Instituted an unlawful ban on people traveling into the country from several predominantly Muslim nations
• Taken action to obstruct federal civil rights enforcement, including abandoning its position in litigation challenging Texas’s discriminatory voter identification law
• Undermined progress made towards criminal justice reform by seeking to derail implementation of a carefully negotiated consent decree setting forth overdue reforms for the Baltimore Police Department and eliminating an executive order that sought to phase out use of private prisons
• Appointed Cabinet-level and other senior officials to key positions in the absence of records which reflect a commitment to civil rights, particularly in the areas of housing and education
• Perpetuated myths regarding vote fraud and incited states to institute laws that restrict access to the ballot box though no evidence of fraud exists.

About The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:

The Lawyers’ Committee, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination.

The Lawyers’ Committee celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013 as it continued its quest of “Moving America Toward Justice.”

The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law, particularly in the areas of fair housing and fair lending, community development, employment, voting, education and environmental justice.

For more information about the Lawyers’ Committee, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.