Civil Rights

A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday introduced legislation to prohibit job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The bill would add perceived and actual sexual orientation and gender identity to federally-protected categories protected against discrimination, such as race, religion, gender, national origin, age, and disability.

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Should crimes against homeless people be considered "hate crimes?"

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) think so. The Congresswoman introduced legislation yesterday to make homelessness an official hate crimes category, joining a list that includes race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability and sexual orientation.

"In the past 10 years, there have been 880 reported cases of violence against people who are homeless, including 244 that have resulted in death," said Johnson.

"It is clear that homeless people are targeted simply because they are homeless, and it is time for the federal government to start tracking the number of violent attacks more closely," she added.

Johnson's legislation--the "Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Statistics Act"--would require the FBI to collect data on crimes against the homeless.

The House voted earlier this year to add sexual orientation, gender identity and mental or physical disability to the list of hate crime categories.

Johnson's legislation has 13 co-sponsors, including one Republican: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinin (R-Fla.)

Congress would demand that President Obama apologize to the officer the president said had "acted stupidly" in the arrest of a prominent Harvard professor under a resolution set to be introduced by one Michigan lawmaker.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) will introduce a House resolution on Monday demanding Obama retract and apologize for remarks he has made about Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley this past week.

Obama had said at his prime time press conference Wednesday that Crowley had "acted stupidly" in the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, a racially-infused case which has sparked a national debate on race and policing.

The president refused to back down on his involvement in the case, but appeared in the White House briefing on Friday to say he had called Crowley to explain that never meant to insult the officer. (Obama also called Gates on Friday.)

McCotter's resolution would demand Obama "retract his initial public remarks and apologize to Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Sergeant James M. Crowley for having unfairly impugned and prejudged his professional conduct in this local police response incident."

The resolution will come after an escalation in the Cambridge case the past two days after the president's initial statements on the matter. The nation's largest police group, the Fraternal Order of Police, blasted Obama for his remarks about Crowley and the Cambridge police.

View the language of the full resolution after the jump: Read more...

President Obama called Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Friday, shortly after stepping into this afternoon's White House briefing to say he'd called the Cambridge police officer who'd arrested Gates and sparked a national conversation on race.

Obama called Gates this afternoon at 3:15 after having spoken to Cambridge Sargeant James Crowley earlier today.

"They had a positive discussion during which the President told Gates about his call with Sgt. Crowley and statement to the media," a White House statement on the matter said.

Obama had called Gates's arrest in his own home an answer of police "acting stupidly" in a case with racial overtones.

The president told Crowley he hadn't meant to malign his work, but defended his public involvement in the incident earlier today.

"There are some who say as president I shouldn't have stepped into this at all because I'm president and it's a local issue," the president said. "The fact that it's become such a big issue is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society."

The White House said that Obama had invited Gates to join him and Crowley at the White House "in the near future."

President Obama called a member of the Cambridge police department Friday to explain his statements earlier this week criticizing the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

Obama reached out to Cambridge Police Sargeant James Crowley to explain his remarks earlier this week accusing the officer of "acting stupidly" in the arrest of Gates, which sparked a debate about race and policing in the United States.

"Because of our history, because of the difficulties in the past. African-Americans are sensitive to these issues," the president explained during a surprise appearance in Friday afternoon's White House briefing.

Obama spoke on the officer's "fine track record" when it comes to racial sensitivity, and joked that he'd invited Crowley to the White House to have a beer.

Obama defended his decision to speak on the arrest of Gates, first in Wednesday evening's prime time press conference, as an opportunity for a learning opportunity on racial issues nationally.

"My hope is that as a consequence of this event, this ends up being what's called a teachable moment," Obama said.

"There are some who say as president I shouldn't have stepped into this at all because I'm president and it's a local issue," the president added. "The fact that it's become such a big issue is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society."

The NAACP and Republican Party should set aside past differences and form a new partnership, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele will tell the civil rights organization in a speech this morning.

Steele, the first African-American leader of the GOP, vowed to throw out traditional modes of outreach and communication with the black community -- what he called "the complete Republican's guide to speaking to African-Americans" -- in favor of offering "a way forward" for the community through the Republican Party.

"We are the post-civil rights generation of African-Americans and for us the battle for civil rights in the latter half of the twentieth century has become a struggle for economic and educational opportunity at the dawning of this century," Steele will tell the NAACP's 100th annual convention in New York City Tuesday morning.

"My purpose for coming here today, is simply to tell you face to face, that you are not alone in that struggle," Steele will say. "The Republican Party, which has shared an inextricable link to the African-American community, has a way forward."

The speech notes a conscious break with usual Republican talking points when it comes to the African-American community -- a base traditionally considered reliably Democratic. Steele mocks a "cut and paste" mentality in previous speeches, gently mocking refrains about the "party of Lincoln" and the Civil Rights Act having been passed by a Republican Congress.

"As Chairman of the [RNC], I recognize the efforts it took to get a seat at the lunch counter, but I also know what it will take for this and future generations to own the diner," the GOP leader will assert, referencing the historic civil rights sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. "So, I have come here today not only to bring greetings, but also to renew our relationship with the NAACP and the African-American community."

Still, Steele will acknowledge that his speech constitutes no "major breakthrough," but instead are "baby steps" in a series of many more to come -- a move which he urged the NAACP to mimic.

A highly classified program aimed at capturing or killing high-value al Qaeda operatives is the program CIA chief Leon Panetta disclosed to members of the House Intelligence Committee last week, leading to calls for investigating the agency.

Though the exact details of the program are unknown, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the CIA was acting to carry out an order signed in 2001 by President George W. Bush. Panetta reportedly told Congress he had ended the program.

Nonetheless, disclosure of the program eight years after Bush signed the order has angered many Democrats, some of whom have called for an investigation into the CIA's record of truthfulness with members of Congress.

Panetta testified about the program in June, and told Congressional panels he had only learned of it himself a few days beforehand. Panetta said the CIA had been ordered to withhold information from Congress by then-Vice President Dick Cheney.

"We should have been briefed before the commencement of this kind of sensitive program," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Fox News Sunday. "[W]e were kept in the dark. That's something that should never, ever happen again."

But it is Panetta who is taking heat from Congressional Democrats now. Late last month, seven Democrats on the House committee wrote a letter to Panetta urging him to publicly correct a statement he made earlier this year in which he said it is not the CIA's policy to mislead Congress.

Sources told the Journal that money had been spent on the program, apparently for training purposes, but that no action in the field had occurred.

--Reid Wilson

The state of Massachusetts has sued the federal government over the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), claiming the legislation interferes with the state's right to define marriage the way it prefers.

Massachusetts is one of six states that allows same-sex marriage. DOMA, however, defines marriage on a federal level as between one man and one woman, meaning that gay married couples in Massachusetts aren't eligible for the federal benefits that straight Bay Staters receive.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley cited that alleged discrimination in the lawsuit:

Before the law was passed, Coakley said, the federal government recognized that defining marital status was the "exclusive prerogative of the states." Now, because of the U.S. law's definition of marriage, same-sex couples are denied access to benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including federal income tax credits, employment benefits, retirement benefits, health insurance coverage and Social Security payments, the lawsuit says.

The White House is considering an executive order asserting the President's authority to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects, the Washington Post reported this morning.

Were the order to be signed by the President, it would effectively validate the policies of George W. Bush, who claimed expansive executive authority over detainees.

The move is also sure to enrage civil libertarians, who are already upset at the President for adopting or defending a handful of Bush's more controversial national security policies, such as denying habeas corpus to enemy combatants held overseas.

The White House is considering the executive order because Obama's advisers are reportedly pessimistic that Congress will agree on a new detention policy for the inmates currently held at Guantanamo Bay. The order would assert the President's authority to take a more unilateral approach to the problem.

Though civil liberties groups are sure to despise the prospect of indefinite detention, the Post reports that an executive order is least likely to anger them:

"Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order," the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should be prosecuted or released.

President Obama's actions yesterday to extend benefits to federal employees is a small, non-tangible step -- though one in the right direction -- Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said Thursday.

Polis, who is one of three openly gay or lesbian members of Congress, said he still supports the Obama administration, but said he could understand why some in the gay or lesbian community would refuse to donate to Obama.

"It's a small, small step in the right direction," Polis told CBS, before adding: "It's not a tangible step."

Polis explained that the couples targeted by yesterday's memorandum on benefits still won't receive healthcare or retirement benefits.

"I think the president can and should do more," he said. "I, frankly, understand why some people feel insulted by the memorandum defending Defense of Marriage Act, and if they choose not to give -- either temporarily or permanently -- that's their decision."

The Colorado freshman lawmaker encouraged the president to "follow through" on campaign promises, as well. He also said he hoped the current detente between the LGBT community and the Obama administration may serve as a "wake-up call" at the White House.