WASHINGTON - November 16 - The American Civil Liberties Union will join the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Campaign for a New Domestic Human Rights Agenda and the Rights Working Group in co-sponsoring a congressional briefing calling for reforms to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR). Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Legislative Counsel and former Acting Deputy General Counsel and Senior Attorney-Advisor to USCCR, will participate in a panel discussion for members of Congress and their staffs, recommending ways to transform the USCCR into a more effective guardian of civil and human rights.   

The current USCCR has strayed from its core mission to investigate and diagnose the state of civil rights in our nation. Far from being the prestigious body that once championed landmark civil rights reforms, the current commission has used its former prominence to articulate views hostile to vigorous civil rights enforcement.  

The ACLU joins with its partners in the civil rights community in urging Congress and President Obama to strengthen and transform the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights into a nonpartisan, independent U.S. Commission on Civil and Human Rights. The ACLU and its coalition partners support expanding the USCCR's purpose to include the protection of human as well as civil rights, a necessary step towards more comprehensive protections against discrimination in America.

WHAT: Congressional briefing on the need to reform the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

WHO: Deborah J. Vagins, Legislative Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union Lisa Crooms, Chair, Campaign for a New Domestic Human Rights Agenda Wade Henderson, President and CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Fatima Goss Graves, Vice President, National Women's Law Center David M. Smith, Vice President of Programs, Human Rights Campaign

WHEN: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

WHERE: 2237 Rayburn House Office Building