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Statement of Gail Heriot Peer-to-Peer Violence and Bullying 181 DISSENTING STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER GAIL HERIOT, WITH WHICH COMMISSIONERS PETER KIRSANOW AND TODD GAZIANO CONCUR I. Background to the Report: A Twice-Told Tale Rather Than an Investigation This report has been a disappointment—though its shortcomings can in no way be attributed to our staff. The responsibility must lie with the Commission itself. Switching topics at the last possible moment made it impossible for the report to be anything but an uncritical re-telling of the positions of the Department of Education and the Department of Justice—along with a very brief nod to a few of the objections to those positions.1 Nothing that can be dignified with the term ―investigation‖ has occurred here. No useful new evidence is uncovered. No serious analysis has been engaged in.2 In the Commission‘s charter, Congress requires us to produce at least one report each year critiquing the manner in which a federal agency enforces civil rights laws.3 It is for that reason that the Commission is frequently referred to as a ―civil rights watchdog.‖4 Our job is to be fair and independent critics. 1 The brief discussion of the objections to the policy is contained almost exclusively in the last chapter of the report. 2 I agree with my colleagues Commissioners Todd Gaziano and Peter Kirsanow that none of the empirical studies on bullying cited in the report is relevant to the issues before the Commission. See Joint Dissent and Rebuttal of Commissioners Gaziano and Kirsanow. These studies do not show that the kind of bullying for which school districts can be held legally accountable for is widespread. Moreover, they do not show that school districts are failing to respond to the problem. Some of these polls are unscientific internet questionnaires that are far from random samples of students. See GLSEN Survey 2009. One would have to expect that victims of bullies are more interested in visiting the GLSEN web site and responding to such polls. All appear to use definitions of bullying or harassment that are overbroad and include activity that would be protected under the First Amendment or that would more properly be classed as tactlessness. In some cases, eye-rolling or engaging in gossip is classed as bullying. See Report at 3. It would have been useful to analyze each of these studies and discuss exactly what they do or do not establish. But there was no time for such meticulous work. The first draft of the report had to be finished one week after the Commission held its first and only hearing on the matter on May 13, 2011. See Transcript of Commission Meeting 10 (August 12, 2011). 3 42 U.S.C. 1975(c)(1): ―The Commission shall submit to the President and Congress at least one report annually that monitors Federal civil rights enforcement efforts in the United States.‖ 4 See Mary Frances Berry, Request for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 103 Cong., 2d Sess. (February 9, 1994) (―We are a watchdog over the effectiveness of federal civil rights enforcement‖); Mary Frances Berry Exits Civil Rights Commission; Gerald Reynolds Picked as New Chairman, Jet (December 27, 2004/January 3, 2005) (―Berry, who at times has been at odds with five presidents over civil rights issues since 1980, once reportedly said, ‗If we don‘t have people irritated, we‘re not doing our job …. We‘re the watchdog that bites you on the leg, keeps tugging at you ….‘‖). 182 Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Gail Heriot The annual enforcement report has traditionally been the most important project the Commission undertakes in any given year. It requires research and development that usually spans a year or more. This report was put together in less than a third of the usual time. Similarly, the length of time for individual commissioners to write their statements was reduced from 30 days to seven days from the date the report was adopted.5 There is a backstory here: After considering several projects for several months over the summer of 2010, the Commission decided on October 8, 2010 that this year‘s topic would be the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division‘s use of the doctrine of ―cy pres‖ in settling civil rights lawsuits brought on behalf of a class.6 That decision was already a little bit later in the year than usual. It was in part prompted by an article entitled Justice Department Steers Money to Favored Groups, which appeared in the Washington Examiner on August 5, 2010.7 The Commission set out to determine whether the concerns discussed in that article were justified.8 The article‘s author, Byron York, outlined the policy at issue this way: The Justice Department has found a new way to pursue civil rights lawsuits, using the power of the Civil Rights Division not just to win compensation for victims of alleged discrimination but also to direct large sums of money to activist groups that are not discrimination victims and not connected to a particular suit. In theory at least, the fact that the Commission‘s eight members are part-time, usually have primary jobs outside the federal bureaucracy and have some expertise in civil rights, means that we can be free from the bias that sometimes hinders the efforts of federal officials assessing the performance of other federal officials. We need not (and should not) be beholden to anyone. 5 Time for rebuttals was also reduced from the usual 30 days to 21 days. While it is understandable that Chairman Castro would be concerned about getting the final report out by end of the fiscal year, the hurry was purely a result of the Commission‘s decision to switch topics halfway through the year. 6 The term ―cy pres‖ comes from the French phrase ―cy pres comme possible‖ or ―as near as possible.‖ It traditionally referred to a doctrine in trusts and estates law. When a testator attempts to create a charitable trust that will provide funds to a non-profit entity that no longer exists or for a purpose that can no longer be carried out, a court may order or allow those funds to be applied to a similar non-profit entity or for a similar purpose instead. Edith L. Fisch, The Cy Pres Doctrine in the United States 1 (1950). More recently, the term has been used to describe the practice described by Byron York in Justice Department Steers Money to Favored Groups under which non-profit organizations are awarded any unclaimed settlement funds or court-ordered damages in a class action or similar proceeding. Another term sometimes used in this context is ―fluid class remedies.‖ 7 Byron York, Justice Department Steers Money to Favored Groups, Washington Examiner (August 5, 2010). 8 The project was later expanded to include the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and private civil rights class actions. Peer-to-Peer Violence and Bullying 183 In the past, when the Civil Rights Division filed suit against, say, a bank or a landlord, alleging discrimination in lending or rentals, the cases were often settled by the defendant paying a fine to the U.S. Treasury and agreeing to put aside a sum of money to compensate the alleged discrimination victims. There was then a search for those victims—people who were actually denied a loan or an apartment—who stood to be compensated. After everyone who could be found was paid, there was often money left over. That money was returned to the defendant. Now, Attorney Eric Holder and Civil Rights Division chief Thomas Perez have a new plan. Any unspent money will not go back to the defendant but will instead go to a ―qualified organization‖ approved by the Justice Department. And if there is not enough unspent money—that will be determined by the Department—then the defendant might be required to come up with more money to give to the ―qualified organization.‖ The idea of directing unclaimed damage funds to non-profit groups whose interests are thought to be aligned with the unidentified victims‘ is superficially appealing. Advocates of cy pres argue that it solves the problem of under-deterrence that occurs when the victims of the defendant‘s wrongdoing fail to come forward and claim their share of the settlement made on their behalf.9 But as several respected legal scholars and practitioners have pointed out, it is also fraught with potential conflicts of interest.10 Northwestern University law professor Martin H. Redish and his co-authors have stated that the use of cy pres in the class action context ―richly deserves‖ ―scathing scholarly critique.‖11 9 Another way to deal with the problem is to over-compensate those victims who do claim funds. For example, if 20,000 victims are expected, but only 10,000 actually present themselves, each one with an injury valued at $10, each could receive $20. 10 Martin H. Redish, Peter Julian & Samantha Zyontz, Cy Pres Relief and the Pathologies of the Modern Class Action: A Normative and Empirical Analysis, 62 Fla. L. Rev. 617 (2010) (stating that the doctrine of cy pres in the context of class action litigation ―richly deserves‖ ―scathing scholarly critique‖); John H. Beisner, Jessica Davidson Miller & Jordan H. Schwartz, Cy Pres: A Not So Charitable Contribution to Class Action Practice, U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform 19 (October 2010) (―[T]he expansion of cy pres into the class action context has generated significant conflict of interest concerns with respect to plaintiffs‘ attorneys, judges and defendants‖); Theodore H.
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