Will Commission on Civil Rights Change Course?

From Mary Ann Zehr of Education Week:

The composition of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has changed, and thus the issues it decides to focus on could also change. The terms of four of the eight commissioners expired in December, and, since then, President Obama and the U.S. Congress have appointed three new commissioners.

Gone from the commission are its recent chairman, Gerald A. Reynolds, a Republican; Arlan Melendez, a Democrat; and Ashley L. Taylor, a Republican. Michael Yaki, a Democrat, also left the commission when his term ended, but he is expected to be reappointed to the one seat that is still vacant, according to the acting chairwoman of the commission, Abigail Thernstrom, who is a Republican and adjunct scholar for the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute.

The new commissioners are all Democrats: Dina Titus, a former U.S. congresswoman from Nevada; Martin R. Castro, a lawyer and Latino community advocate; and Roberta Achtenberg, who was a senior adviser to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration.

Because of Castro’s appointment, I’m guessing we might soon hear more from the commission in its new form about the civil rights of immigrants. Castro is a former national board member of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Before he became a commissioner, in fact, Castro stepped up to a microphone during a Q & A time at a national conference hosted by the commission last September and criticized the conference for having “an amazing lack of Latinos on panels.” He then also asked panelists if they supported the DREAM Act. Read more…

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