Several civil rights groups on Tuesday sued to try and prevent the Department of Justice from closing an office dedicated to preventing “unrest and violence” in U.S. communities, according to a new report.
The organizations are suing to stop the closure of the Community Relations Service — first created in 1964 to prevent rioting and racial tensions in American cities — and seeking a preliminary injunction to keep the office known as “America’s Peacemaker,” according to CBS News report.
The Trump administration had planned to close it, and in the lawsuit filed by multiple branches of the NAACP and the Baptist Convention of Missouri, the groups argue that the Justice Department is violating the law by shuttering it.
“Rather than pursue legislation to eliminate the agency, however, (the Justice Department) set out to destroy the Community Relations Service unilaterally,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Defendants did so behind closed doors, without notice or public input, and without consulting the communities that depend on the Community Relations Service.”
“The Department of Justice refuses to follow the law — and it cannot offer any coherent explanation for its actions,” the lawsuit said. “Instead, the Executive Branch is brazenly defying Congress.”
Attorney Kyle Freeny from the Washington Litigation Group is representing the civil rights groups in the lawsuit.
“The Community Relations Service was not an abstract government agency to these plaintiffs,” Freeny said. “It was an active partner helping them mediate racial tensions, support faith communities, protect vulnerable students and address discrimination in real time. By dismantling CRS, the government cut off proven, irreplaceable support that these organizations depended on to carry out their missions.”
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