U.S. Attacks on Consent Decrees Opposed
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WASHINGTON — Five Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee urged the Justice Department on Friday to end its legal attacks on consent decrees that give minorities and women preference in government employment.
Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), chairman of the House Judiciary civil rights subcommittee, released at a news conference a letter to Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III urging the department to stop trying to reopen the court cases.
Edwards said copies of the letter were sent to 50 states, counties, cities and school districts asked by the department to modify their quota-based agreements.
The letter is part of an escalating campaign by civil rights groups and their supporters against the Reagan Administration’s civil rights policies, especially its vehement opposition to numerical quotas.
On Thursday, Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.), the Judiciary Committee chairman, introduced legislation that would require the Justice Department to certify before going to court that appellate court precedent existed for reopening the consent decrees. The provision was attached to the department’s budget authorization bill.
Signing Friday’s letter with Edwards and Rodino were Reps. Robert W. Kastenmeier (D-Wis.), Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.).
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