Abstract

Wrong for Civil Rights

The author comments on the appointment of Gerry Reynolds to succeed Mary Frances Berry, who resigned as chair of the Commission on Civil Rights. The media's harsh, fleeting spotlight on Berry's purported combativeness distracted readers from the real-bad--news: George W. Bush's appointment of Gerald Reynolds as Berry's successor. Reynolds, 41, a Kansas City energy company lawyer, had fifteen minutes of fame almost three years ago when Bush nominated him as assistant secretary of education for civil rights. Civil rights groups and advocates for women and for the disabled protested, appalled at the thought of Reynolds--fierce opponent of affirmative action, critic of the gender-equity law Title IX and of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and unqualified by any measure--occupying a visible civil rights enforcement post. But in March 2002 Bush made an end run around the confirmation process and appointed Reynolds while Congress was in recess.