In April, we told you about the Civil Rights Division’s increased efforts to combat lending discrimination with the establishment of a new Fair Lending Unit, and about strengthened partnerships with other federal agencies to more effectively enforce fair lending laws. 

In recent months, these efforts have yielded a record number of fair lending enforcement actions. Since the beginning of May, the department has resolved or filed seven fair lending actions that protect individuals from unfair or discriminatory lending practices, more than the department has ever filed in such a short time period. The cases cover a variety of types of discrimination, and aim to remedy discrimination against a number of different communities.

Below are some highlights of our recent work.

Several of the cases have involved allegations of discrimination based on race or national origin:

• On May 5, the Civil Rights Division announced a fair lending settlement with Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. and Citizens Bank of Flint, Michigan, to resolve allegations of redlining. The division’s lawsuit, which was dismissed in light of the settlement, alleged that the bank failed to offer credit in African-American communities in the Detroit area on an equal basis with white communities. The bank agreed to open a loan production office in an African-American neighborhood in Detroit and invest approximately $3.6 million in Wayne County, Michigan.
• On June 16, the division reached a fair lending settlement with Midwest BankCentre of St. Louis County, Missouri, to resolve allegations of redlining. The suit alleged that the bank failed to offer credit in African-American communities of the St. Louis area on an equal basis with white communities. The bank agreed to open a branch in an African-American neighborhood in St. Louis and invest approximately $1.45 million in those neighborhoods.
• On June 17, the division settled another recent fair lending case against Nixon State Bank in Nixon, Texas, in which the lender was alleged to have charged higher prices on unsecured consumer loans made to Hispanic borrowers through the bank’s branch offices.  As part of the settlement agreement, the bank agreed to establish uniform pricing policies to ensure non-discrimination, and to pay nearly $100,000 to Hispanic victims of discrimination.

Another recent case alleges discrimination against women on maternity leave:

• On July 5, the division filed suit against the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC), the nation’s largest mortgage insurance company, and two of its underwriters, alleging that MGIC required women on paid maternity leave to return to work before the company would insure their mortgages. Most mortgage lenders require applicants seeking to borrow more than 80 percent of their home’s value to obtain mortgage insurance, meaning MGIC’s denials to women on maternity leave could cost those women the opportunity to obtain a home loan.

The division has also taken aggressive action to protect our members of the military against unfair lending practices.  

• On May 26, the division announced two multi-million dollar settlements under Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) resolving allegations that servicers unlawfully foreclosed on servicemembers.  Both servicers also agreed to enact new policies and take other corrective action to ensure that in the future they fully comply with the (SCRA).
  • Bank of America/Countrywide agreed to pay a minimum of $20 million to resolve allegations that it unlawfully foreclosed on approximately 160 servicemembers. This is the largest SCRA settlement ever reached by the department.  
  • Saxon Mortgage Services Inc., a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, will pay a minimum of $2.35 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging that Saxon foreclosed on approximately 17 servicemembers.
  • On May 26, the division also resolved allegations that Bank of America charged servicemembers interest in excess of 6 percent on credit card debt, in violation of the SCRA.

The Fair Lending Unit works closely with the banking regulatory agencies, the Federal Trade Commission, and HUD, receiving from them fair lending referrals where the agency believes there is a pattern or practice of discrimination. In 2010, the division received 49 referrals from partner agencies, more than it had received in a single year in at least 20 years.

Critics of our increased enforcement efforts believe we must choose between vigorous enforcement of fair lending laws and a strong, sound climate for lending.  This is a false choice. The truth is that fair lending enforcement is essential for a well functioning market where borrowers can access credit based on their qualifications and not be denied opportunity because of their race, national origin or gender. 

In fact, the department’s enforcement efforts support sound lending practices.  The department’s fair lending settlement agreements repeatedly refer to the extension of credit to “qualified applicants” only. The department makes clear that no provision in the agreements require banks to make any unsafe or unsound loan. 

As we recover from our nation’s housing crisis, we all have a shared interest in ensuring that communities are rebuilt in a sustainable way that allows them to flourish not only in the near term, but for generations to come.  This can only happen if all qualified homebuyers can access safe, sustainable credit, free from discrimination, on the same basis as their peers as is required by law. The Justice Department will unapologetically continue to ensure they can do so by vigorously enforcing fair lending laws.

As part of its implementation of the Executive Order, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review” issued by President Obama on January 18, 2011, the Department of Justice prepared a plan for the retrospective review of its existing significant regulations to determine if any should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed.

On June 1, 2011, we posted our preliminary plan on our Open Government website to solicit public input. On June 10, 2011, we published a request for comments in the Federal Register.  We reviewed the comments we received and revised the plan accordingly.

First, we refined metrics to clarify that the top priorities for retrospective review are those rules that could result in greater net benefits to the public if modified, or that could be replaced by other, less burdensome regulatory alternatives without compromising regulatory objectives. 

Second, the Department established a process for members of the public to communicate with us regarding regulations or the retrospective review process throughout the year. 

Third, the Department continued to place a strong emphasis on the balance between active rulemaking and retrospective review. 

Finally, the Department made note of the specific regulations identified as candidates for retrospective review and will consider these suggestions as part of the review process.

Going forward, the Department will establish a working group that will help institutionalize a culture of retrospective review and collaborate with rulemaking components as necessary.  Once the working group reviews the initial candidate rules identified in the plan, we will report to the public on the outcome of our assessment.  Through this process, the Department seeks to build upon our commitment to open government, and to promote evidence‐based decision‐making with respect to regulations.

Members of the public are encouraged to suggest additional candidate rules and identify why those rules should be prioritized for review under the criteria described in the plan.  Members of the public may submit these comments to olpregs@usdoj.gov year-round, or take advantage of formal comment periods announced in the Federal Register.

Have you ever wondered about the legislative process that led to the creation of the Department of Justice in 1870? Or how Congress changed the law concerning telemarketers in 1998?

A number of digitized legislative histories compiled by the Department of Justice library staff throughout the years on laws of interest to department have now been made available to the public on our website, justice.gov.   These legislative histories are an important roadmap into the development and passage of a law of the United States.

A “legislative history” of a law consists of documents created as a result of the legislative process during a law’s consideration, passage by Congress, and signature by the President. 

 A compiled legislative history assists in organizing the various documents that resulted in the passage of a law. Attorneys and researchers are then able to efficiently search and review the compiled legislative documents to find legal clarifications specific statutory language within the law. 

Most legislative histories may include some, or all, of the following: the U.S. Public Law; House and Senate Documents; House, Senate, and Conference Reports; House and Senate Committee Hearings; Congressional Debates (Congressional Record); related Bills; and Presidential Statements.

Our digitized legislative histories are unique and may be more comprehensive than other legislative histories on the same laws available through other libraries or research databases.

The documents within the legislative histories added to justice.gov were originally researched, comprehensively collected from Congressional publications, and bound into paper volumes by our librarians.  Until now, these multi-volume histories were made available only to department employees through the Justice Department’s main library collection.

They have been digitized and are now available to the public. We invite you to view them online.

All Americans deserve to be protected from environmental health hazards. That is why last week, the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House Council on Environmental Quality announced an agreement and signed a “Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898” (EJ MOU). As part of this agreement, federal agencies will develop environmental justice strategies and provide the public with annual progress reports on their efforts. These efforts will help protect the health of those living in communities overburdened by pollution so they can thrive.

Attorney General Holder highlighted the role this partnership will play in fighting for environmental justice stating:

“Today’s memorandum will reinforce the federal government’s commitment to the guiding principles of environmental justice – that the wealth, poverty, or race of any people should not determine the quality and health of the environment in which they live their lives. These are important steps to ensure that environmental justice is an integral part of our work.”

Environmental justice is a major priority of the Department of Justice and the EPA. Its goal is to provide all Americans – regardless of their race, ethnicity or income status – full protection under the nation’s environmental, civil rights, and health laws and to make sure that certain communities are not unfairly burdened with pollution, contaminated storm water, or toxic chemicals. Those who live in these environments face disproportionate health problems and greater obstacles to economic growth when their communities cannot attract businesses and new jobs.

The signing of the EJ MOU is the latest in a series of steps taken to elevate the environmental justice conversation and address the inequities that may be present in some communities. Last September, the reconvened Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) met for the first time in more than a decade. In December, at the White House Environmental Justice Forum, Cabinet Secretaries and other senior Administration officials met with more than 100 environmental justice leaders from across the country to engage advocates on issues that are affecting their communities, including reducing air pollution, addressing health disparities, and capitalizing on emerging clean energy job opportunities. The EJ MOU reflects the dialogue, concerns and commitments made at the forum and other public events.

Executive Order 12898 “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,” named federal agencies responsible for making environmental justice part of their mission and working with the other agencies on environmental justice issues as members of the EJIWG. This agreement furthers these responsibilities by broadening the reach of the working group to include participant agencies not originally named in the Executive Order.

The agreement also provides for areas of focus for federal agencies to consider as they prepare their environmental justice strategies and annual progress reports, including the impacts of climate change and commercial transportation and the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Finally, it emphasizes the need for public input into agencies’ environmental justice work. 

 The following agencies signed the EJ MOU: Environmental Protection Agency; White House Council on Environmental Quality; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Justice; Department of Agriculture; Department of Commerce; Department of Defense; Department of Education; Department of Energy; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Department of Interior; Department of Labor; Department of Transportation; Department of Veterans Affairs; General Services Administration; and Small Business Administration.

More information about The Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice is available from the EPA.

Around the globe today, criminals are seeking to exploit the lack of transparency associated with U.S. companies to harm our national and economic security. Major drug trafficking cartels, arms traffickers and other criminal organizations have employed shell corporations to further their illegal activities and launder their ill-gotten proceeds. 

The Department of Justice joins our partners at the Departments of Treasury and Homeland Security in welcoming the introduction of an important bill  (PDF) this week in Congress to “combat U.S. corporations with hidden owners” that would require disclosure of beneficial ownership information in the company formation process.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division noted:

“It is essential to our national and economic security that we close the loophole enabling some of the world’s worst actors in the criminal underworld to use shell companies established in the United States to move and hide their money. The proposed legislation represents an important step toward that goal.”

This proposed legislation would facilitate the transparency of the financial system by making it more difficult for criminal organizations to hide behind front companies and shell corporations, an objective referenced in the President’s Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime announced last week.

The following blog appears courtesy of Susan B. Carbon, Director, Office on Violence Against Women

This summer an important partnership to implement the Attorney General’s Anti-Violence Strategy was launched on the grounds of the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville, West Virginia. United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II and I announced the three main components of the strategy, known as Project POWER – Preventing Offenses of Weapons, Enforcement and Reentry.

United States Attorney Ihlenfeld used the day to highlight a major effort to educate female inmates about the dangers of knowingly purchasing firearms for someone else in hopes that this education will help prevent them from returning to jail once they are released.  The prevention and intervention efforts in West Virginia include outreach to female inmates, with the goal of helping them avoid abusive relationships once they are released.

The day began with a discussion with twelve women inmates at the West Virginia Northern Regional Jail. These women were victims of abuse as children and later at the hands of husbands or boyfriends, men who later pressured these women to commit crime. For these women, abuse was a normal, everyday part of life.  Now they were behind bars at a women’s prison talking about what brought them there and what they would need to succeed when they were released. 
 
These women have goals and hope to better their lives after serving their time. They want to then start a new path.  Unfortunately they will leave prison with limited resources. Most will be registered felons, be jobless and have limited job opportunities.  As one woman expressed, “We’re not interested in reentry, we need to reinvent ourselves, and we will need help to do that.”  Sadly, most of the women lamented that upon release, it will be their abusers who will be there to take them home, using their children as tools of manipulation unless they have access to sufficient resources to live independently.
 
The efforts of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) to address intervention and prevention initiatives are key to ending the cycle of crime. The women at the West Virginia Northern Regional Jail said they wished someone had talked to them in school – perhaps a teacher, a guidance counselor, or a guest teacher in a health class.  Although many of them knew of, and applied for, domestic violence protection orders, very few of them had advocates that helped them along the way.  And, no one had educated them about the restrictions on access to firearms for those who had abused them, and the dangers to victims of their involvement as purchasers for weapons intended for someone else’s use.
 
Even though the history of the twelve women in West Virginia cannot be changed, their futures and the futures of countless other women, can have better outcomes.   The commitment to the Attorney General’s Anti –Violence Strategy by the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Bureau of Prisons, the West Virginia Department of Corrections, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Lee Day Report Center and the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services will spearhead the change envisioned by U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld.

In addition, the West Virginia effort includes outreach to high school students.  Planned programs include former female inmates sharing their experiences. These are important steps.
 
We have learned that to be effective in preventing violence and abuse in our homes and communities, a coordinated community response is an important factor for success.  The efforts underway in the Attorney General’s Anti-Violence Strategy in West Virginia for training, education and public outreach – including those efforts targeting victims of domestic violence and at-risk youth – offer all of us an opportunity to share resources and knowledge for providing services to those who need them, while at the same time holding perpetrators accountable.

We remind all those in need of assistance, or other concerned friends and individuals, to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE.