United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
	Seal of the United States Department of Justice
Division overview
Formed	December 9, 1957
Jurisdiction	United States government agency
Headquarters	Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building; 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW; Washington, D.C., United States
Annual budget	$162 million (2015)
Division executives	Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General; Pamela S. Karlan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
Parent department	U.S. Department of Justice
Website	www.justice.gov/crt

The Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin.

The division was established on December 9, 1957, by order of Attorney General William P. Rogers, after the Civil Rights Act of 1957 created the head office of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (AAG-CR; appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate). In 2021, Kristen Clarke became the first woman confirmed to the position.

Organization

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
- Appellate Section
- Coordination and Review Section
- Criminal Section
- Disability Rights Section
- Educational Opportunities Section
- Employment Litigation Section
- Housing and Civil Enforcement Section
- Immigrant and Employee Rights Section^[2]
- Policy & Strategy Section
- Special Litigation Section
- Voting Section

Jurisdiction

The Division enforces

the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended through 2006
the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009
the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986
the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984
the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980, which authorizes the Attorney General to seek relief for persons confined in public institutions where conditions exist that deprive residents of their constitutional rights
the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994
the Police Misconduct Provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
Section 102 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin and citizenship status as well as document abuse and retaliation under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

In addition, the Division prosecutes actions under several criminal civil rights statutes which were designed to preserve personal liberties and safety.

Assistant Attorneys General

denotes head that served as acting Assistant Attorney General

#	Head	Took office	Left office	Party	Administration	Ref.
1	W. Wilson White	1957	1960	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower	^[3]
2	Harold R. Tyler	1960	1961	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower	^[4]
3	Burke Marshall	1961	1965	Democratic	John F. Kennedy	^[4]
4	John Doar	1965	1967	Republican	Lyndon B. Johnson	^[4]^[5]
5	Stephen J. Pollak	1967	1969	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson	^[4]
6	Jerris Leonard	1969	1971	Republican	Richard Nixon	^[4]
7	David Luke Norman	1971	1973	Republican	Richard Nixon	^[4]
8	J. Stanley Pottinger	1973	1977	Republican	Richard Nixon	^[4]
9	Drew S. Days	1977	1980	Democratic	Jimmy Carter	^[4]
10	William Bradford Reynolds	1981	1988	Republican	Ronald Reagan	^[4]^[6]
–	William C. Lucas (acting)	1988	1989	Republican	Ronald Reagan
–	James P. Turner (acting)	1989	1990	Republican	Ronald Reagan
11	John R. Dunne	1990	1993	Republican	George H. W. Bush	^[4]
–	James P. Turner (acting)	1993	1994	Democratic	Bill Clinton
12	Deval Patrick	1994	1997	Democratic	Bill Clinton	^[4]
13	Bill Lann Lee	1997	2001	Democratic	Bill Clinton	^[7]
14	Ralph F. Boyd	2001	2003	Republican	George W. Bush
–	Bradley Schlozman (acting)	2003	2003	Republican	George W. Bush
15	Alexander Acosta	2003	2005	Republican	George W. Bush
16	Wan J. Kim	2005	2007	Republican	George W. Bush
–	Grace Chung Becker (acting)	2008	2008	Republican	George W. Bush
17	Thomas Perez	2009	2013	Democratic	Barack Obama	^[8]
–	Jocelyn Samuels (acting)	2013	2014	Democratic	Barack Obama
–	Molly J. Moran (acting)	2014	2014	Democratic	Barack Obama
–	Vanita Gupta (acting)	2014	2017	Democratic	Barack Obama	^[9]
–	Thomas E. Wheeler II (acting)	2017	2017	Republican	Donald Trump	^[10]
–	John M. Gore (acting)	2017	2018	Republican	Donald Trump	^[11]
18	Eric Dreiband	2018	2021	Republican	Donald Trump	^[12]
19	Kristen Clarke	2021	-	Democratic	Joe Biden