The Civil Rights Act of 1957 created the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Since then, Congress has reauthorized or extended the legislation creating the Commission several times; the last reauthorization was in 1994 by the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994.
Established as an independent, bipartisan, fact-finding federal agency, our mission is to inform the development of national civil rights policy and enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws. We pursue this mission by studying alleged deprivations of voting rights and alleged discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice. We play a vital role in advancing civil rights through objective and comprehensive investigation, research, and analysis on issues of fundamental concern to the federal government and the public.
Our commissioners, national and regional office staff of civil rights analysts, social scientists, attorneys, administrative personnel, and volunteer advisory committee members execute our mission in a number of ways. Among them are:
- holding public briefings, issuing press releases, making information publicly available on our Web site, and providing a complaint referral service to promote greater public awareness of civil rights issues, protections, and enforcement;
- conducting hearings on critically important civil rights issues, including issuing subpoenas for the production of documents and the attendance of witnesses;
- publishing significant studies and reports on a wide range of the civil rights issues, that typically include findings and recommendations, to inform and advise policymakers; and
- sustaining advisory committee involvement in national program planning to strengthen fact-finding by broadening the scope of the research to include state and local perspectives and data.
Policies, Plans, and Procedures
Limited English Proficiency Plan
Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
Budget and Performance Reports
Information Quality Guidelines
Operations, Functions, and Structure of Civil Rights Commission