OF NOTE: Opinion: Five Reasons Why Even A Temporary Amnesty Or Guest Worker Program Is A Very Bad Idea

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History is replete with ironies.

Here's one: Republicans have always hated the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice; but because Republicans are what they are, whenever they have power they have never actually abolished that division; now, it may become one of the greatest tools in the history of Republican policymaking.

This is in large part thanks to Harmeet Dhillon's actions as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Dhillon had previously made her mark in private practice as a lawyer-activist attacking DEI and other abuses of American civil rights law.

She did what some of us fantasized about but did not dare believe what's possible: turned the DOJ Civil Rights Division into an instrument for destroying the DEI regime.

A recent interview with the Washington Examiner goes over how she had to, predictably, fire most of the division, and is now rebuilding it after a "cultural shift." You can say that again. Some 250 attorneys, or around 70% of the division's lawyers, either have left or are set to soon leave the department since the Inauguration, and a dozen section chiefs have been reassigned to other areas.

Since then, Dhillon has launched a whirlwind of activity.

The Civil Rights Division has started an investigation into the UC system's race and sex based discrimination, focusing on the "UC 2030 Capacity Plan" which includes "diversity-based" faculty recruitment goals, as well as into the government of Rhode Island, into Chicago city government, and more, for race-based hiring practices. The Civil Rights Division has also filed a federal lawsuit against Maine's Department of Education for refusing to ban transgender athletes from participating in women's sports.

The importance of these moves is not the individual lawsuits themselves (unless they fail). The importance is that they create a deterrent. They change the nature of the legal environment. What we want is a future where every Chief Legal Counsel in America will tell his boss, not that he needs to start a diversity program because otherwise he might be hit by a civil rights lawsuit, but that he needs to stop taking race into account in hiring because he might be hit by a civil rights lawsuit.

That effort will take at least four years as legal battles have to be fought and the precedents percolate into the wider society. But it's starting on a very good footing.

Policy News You Need To Know

#DCLiberation — President Trump has floated the idea of taking DC under Federal control. This is obviously good policy. The quality of life in the District has gotten noticeably worse since Covid and BLM. Crime is rampant, with an 18-year-old Congressional intern tragically getting shot just last week. More broadly, the District has never been able to govern itself. We were not around for Marion Barry, but we've heard a few stories. It's a failed experiment. The District exists to house the Federal government of the United States of America, and therefore it should be directly run by that same government. There would have to be an Act of Congress to fully end DC home rule, which looks unlikely, but the Trump Administration could use various pressure tools to force the city to agree to some sort of takeover. An interesting one has been a little-noticed provision of the DC Home Rule Act that allows the President to take control of the DC Metropolitan Police Department under certain circumstances… The District will welcome us as liberators.

#Trade #Constitution — Cato has filed an amicus brief in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, the case that is challenging the President's authority to impose tariffs in a discretionary manner. The case is currently under review by a Federal appeals court, which blocked a previous district court decision blocking the tariffs. We really don't understand this case at all. Nobody denies that Congress can delegate certain powers to the President (or if they do, they are arguing against almost the entire structure of our government and longstanding constitutional precedent), and Congress has very clearly delegated a lot of tariff authority to the President, and for precisely the purpose for which the President is using it, which is as a negotiating tool or to react to specific circumstances in case a country is practicing dumping or some other unfair trade practice. You may think Congress shouldn't have delegated this authority, or should take it back, in which case they should pass a law to that effect. You may disagree with the way the President is using this authority. But we simply don't see any constitutional issue.

#Trade — Interesting quote from a Bloomberg report: "Japan’s automakers slashed the price of products exported to the US at a record pace, in a sign that companies are sacrificing profits to remain competitive as President Donald Trump’s tariffs hit cars."

#JudicialTyranny — More lawlessness from Federal judges: a new federal judge has once again blocked the Trump Administration's birthright citizenship executive order, in direct defiance of the Supreme Court's latest decision on nationwide injunctions. Something has to happen. John Roberts needs to get his house in order, otherwise Stephen Miller will.

#Budget — CBO's monthly budget review for June: The federal budget deficit totaled $1.3 trillion in the first nine months of fiscal year 2025. That amount is $65 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.

#LGBT — You love to see it: Department of Justice Subpoenas Doctors and Clinics Involved in Performing Transgender Medical Procedures on Children. Discovery alone makes this worth it, but hopefully a lot of people will go to prison.

#Crime #Disorder — Another study shows that disorder abatement reduces crime.

#HigherEd — At National Review, EPPC's Henry Olsen makes the case for why it's a good idea to raise taxes on private endowments.

#HigherEd — Speaking of, the Department of Education just ended a program that gave subsidies for illegal aliens to attend postsecondary training institutes.

#YourTaxDollarsAtWork — The new Dallas permit authority building was partially evacuated because it lacked the proper permits, thereby slowing permits for other local construction projects. (Report) Competence in government matters!