Wrong for Civil Rights

When Mary Frances Berry resigned as chair of the Commission on Civil Rights on December 7, 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.

Reynolds's term at the Education Department expired in 2003. Bush avoided a reappointment fight, stored Reynolds in the Justice Department and then Reynolds returned to Kansas City to work, as he had before, as an energy company lawyer.

Gerald Reynolds has never litigated a civil rights case. Nor has he ever held an academic appointment in law, public policy or education. He possesses no record of scholarship on matters of jurisprudence, education or social policy. He has no sustained professional work experience in public education or in high-poverty communities. What he does have: a long history of calling civil rights leaders names while attacking civil rights laws and policies.

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 68 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
• Reprint this article. Click here for rights and information.