By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta this week ordered the Justice Department to undertake a review into whether it is adequately policing its federal grant recipients, in an effort to ensure public money is not being used to fund “illegal discrimination.”
The review, ordered in a Sept. 15 memo made public on Thursday, comes after major civil rights organizations for years have complained that the Justice Department was too lax in funding organizations such as police departments that have disproportionately targeted Black and brown communities with through systemic patterns of misconduct.
The Justice Department’s grant-making arms collectively award more than $4 billion a year in funds to state and local municipalities, victims service providers and research institutions.
In exchange for receiving those funds, grant winners are required to follow all federal civil rights laws, meaning they are prohibited from using public money to discriminate against people because of their race, national origin, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
“This review is intended to ensure that the department is
providing sufficient oversight and accountability regarding the activities of its federally-funded recipients,” Gupta wrote in her memo to other top department officials.
(Reporting by Sarah N. LynchEditing by Marguerita Choy)
