The Trump Administration will reverse Justice Department policy from the Obama Administration regarding laws protecting against racial discrimination, CNN reports.
"Since the 1960s, when these major laws were first enacted, we've never seen an administration so intensely focused on dismantling civil rights protections across the board," said Jon Greenbaum, the general counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
"They have been more effective so far than two Bush administrations," said Roger Clegg, Center for Equal Opportunity president and general counsel. "This administration is more likely to be accused of having bad racial motives than other Republican administrations.”
The Trump administration has reversed the Obama-era DOJ’s position on federal oversight of redistricting maps in Texas, which the state was subjected to up until the Supreme Court struck down the rule regarding Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act that made Texas and other states with a history of racial discrimination subject to oversight when making electoral changes.
"There is currently no reason to subject Texas to federal court oversight," said DOJ spokeswoman Kelly Laco, who added, "the Justice Department remains committed to enforcing the law and protecting all Americans from all forms of illegal race-discrimination."
"It's not just a retreat in the present from fair enforcement of the [Voting Rights Act]. I believe that they're actually looking toward the future. They are giving states freer rein than they have had since enactment of the Voting Rights Act to aggressively gerrymander against the interests of minority voters,” said Austin lawyer Renea Hicks. "Any active protection of minority rights will be left to the local level and piecemeal, battle by battle, slow-paced litigation."