By Suzie Ziegler
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has halted President Trump’s commission on law enforcement after advocates argued it violated federal law and was biased in favor of police.
According to The Appeal, the 18-person commission includes only former or current law enforcement members. None of the members have a “a criminal defense, civil rights, or community organization background,” U.S. District Judge John Bates wrote in his ruling. The commission has been under the control of Attorney General William Barr since Trump created it by executive order last year.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed the lawsuit, argued that the commission violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires such groups to have a “fairly balanced membership,” according to The Appeal.
“The Commission’s function is to improve policing, including relations between law enforcement and the communities they protect,” wrote Bates. “Yet the Commission does not include a single member who represents elements of those communities, rather than law enforcement.”
Bates ordered the commission to stop its work and not to release its final report, expected at the end of October, until it met FACA’s diversity requirements.
Sherrilyn Ifill, president and direct counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, wrote in a statement: “Any federal committee designed to make recommendations about law enforcement must include representation from people and communities impacted by police violence, civil rights organizations, the criminal defense bar, and other stakeholders.”