Report: Obama's Civil Rights Warriors Distraught as DOJ Shutters Project That Funded Open-Borders Groups - Breitbart
Description: DOJ has "quietly" put an end to most work at the Office for Access to Justice (ATJ), one of the lesser initiatives of the Eric Holder era.
Keywords: ATJ, DOJ, Jeff Sessions, Lambda Legal, Office for Access to Justice, Vanita Gupta,Big Government, Immigration, Obama,doj
Date: 2018-02-02T17:50:06-08:00

# Report: Obama’s Civil Rights Warriors Distraught as DOJ Shutters Project That Funded Open-Borders Groups

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

by Ian Mason 2 Feb 2018 0

2 Feb, 2018 2 Feb, 2018

## The Department of Justice (DOJ) has “quietly” put an end to most work at the Office for Access to Justice (ATJ), one of the lesser initiatives of the Eric Holder era, according to a Thursday New York Times report.

The tiny ATJ was founded in 2010 under then-Attorney General Eric Holder. Its last published organization chart, from 2015, shows only three appointees and their support staff. ATJ distributed grants and drafted “statements of interest” aimed at supporting the right to competent legal representation for the poor and indigent secured by the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court’s famous 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright.

In 2014, however, ATJ also provided $1.8 million to left-wing open-borders groups like the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the George Soros-funded Equal Justice Works, and the New York Immigration Coalition to provide lawyers for so-called “unaccompanied children” who surged across the southern border that year in their immigration hearings. This week, even the notoriously liberal U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the idea that the Constitution requires the government to pay for lawyers for these child aliens.

The Civil Rights Division leaders of the Obama administration are dejected at the news ATJ was being all but shut down. “Sessions’ shutting down the Access to Justice Initiative sadly speaks for itself,” Vanita Gupta, President Barack Obama’s Civil Rights Division chief, told the Times.

Gupta is a self-described “critical race” theorist, who once wrote that “the rule of law,” “colorblindness,” “equal justice for all,” and “equal protection,” are merely “code words” for a legal system “contingent upon … racial power” and that treating criminal defendants as individuals without respect to race “is how we have managed to rationalize racism.” She has been broadly critical of the direction Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken DOJ, criticizing him, for example, for his “unwillingness to recognize the history of this country is rooted in immigration.”

Another of Obama’s civil rights attorneys, Sharon McGowan, told the NYT, “Ever since he became attorney general, Sessions has advanced positions that are irreconcilable with where we are as a country.”

McGowan now works for Lambda Legal, the left-wing law firm now leading the charge to force states to allow men who “identify” as women into ladies’ restrooms and vice versa after the DOJ pulled out of these lawsuits when Sessions took office.

The office was never a major recipient of DOJ resources but appears to have been sidelined to the point of irrelevance in the Sessions era. The New York Times notes that Maha Jweied, ATJ’s acting director, resigned this month and has not been replaced. No major ATJ project or accomplishment has been posted to the office’s website since President Donald Trump took office last year.

The Department of Justice did not respond to Breitbart News’s request for comment on ATJ’s future.

Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.

BREITBART CONNECT

## MOST POPULAR

- Americans Turning Off Super Bowl in Droves: Bars, Bowling Alleys, Veterans Boycotting 0 comments - 12 hours ago
- Steve King’s Memo Warning: ‘Watch Closely for Barack Obama’s Fingerprints’0 comments - 1 day ago
- 16 Bombshells In the Nunes Memo the Media Does Not Want You to Know About 0 comments - 2 days ago
- MEMO RELEASED: FBI Officials Knew Political Origins of Dossier, But Used It Anyway 0 comments - 3 days ago
- Donald Trump Super Bowl Message: ‘We Proudly Stand for the National Anthem’0 comments - 15 hours ago
- CNN’s Mudd: FBI People ‘Ticked’ About Memo; Are Saying About Trump ‘Game Is Going to Be Played,’ They’re ‘Going to Win’0 comments - 2 days ago
- No Players Kneel or Raise Fists During the National Anthem at Super Bowl LII 0 comments - 14 hours ago
- Memo Fallout: Nine Questions About James Comey’s Role in Fueling Russia Collusion Conspiracy 0 comments - 22 hours ago
- Delingpole: Climate Bully Mob Tries to Oust Trump Supporter from Natural History Museum 0 comments - 19 hours ago
- Memo Reveals Deep State/Media Coordination: Yahoo! News Article Cited by FBI Based on Steele Leaks 0 comments - 3 days ago

Jay-Z Triggering
Jim Mellon
A Well-Regulated Militia

## FROM THE HOMEPAGE

- Philly Fans Celebrate Winning Super Bowl LII, by Trying to Burn Their City to the Ground
  Comments
- Americans Turning Off Super Bowl in Droves: Bars, Bowling Alleys, Veterans Boycotting
  Comments
- No Players Kneel or Raise Fists During the National Anthem at Super Bowl LII
  Comments
- Philly Coach Doug Pederson Praises ‘Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ During Post-Game Celebration
  Comments
- Fashion Notes: Melania Trump Rocks Patriotic Varsity Jacket for Super Bowl
  Comments
- Donald Trump: ‘Little’ Adam Schiff ‘One of the Biggest Liars and Leakers in Washington’
  Comments
- GOP Rep Peter King: More Evidence of Russia Collusion with Hillary Than with Trump
  Comments
- Watch: Eagles Score on Amazing Trick Play
  Comments
- Odell Beckham Jr., Eli Manning Are ‘Having the Time of Their Lives’ in Super Bowl Ad
  Comments
- Watch: Redskins QB Kirk Cousins Stars in Local DC Commercial with Fake Donald Trump
  Comments
- ‘I Hate Illinois Nazis’: GOP Tries, Fails to Stop Antisemite from Running Unopposed in Primary
  Comments
- Leading German Cardinal Opens the Door to Church Blessings of Homosexual Couples
  Comments