DOJ Turning Back to its Previous Course
Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, is pushing the Dept. of Justice back to enforcing higher impact civil rights. So says the New York Times. The DOJ will focus more on high impact litigation, instead of the former administration's preference for individual cases. DOJ can prosecute employment discrimination cases against state or local governments. They can also prosecute employment discrimination cases against federal contractors.
What this means is that DOJ's Office of Civil Rights will focus on pattern and practice sort of cases involving many employees, not just one or two. That makes sense. DOJ's resources are limited, just as the EEOC's resources are limited. It makes more sense to focus on cases ainvolving more potential victims of discrimination.
