Today, Gail Heriot and Peter Kirsanow, two members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights who are writing in their individual capacities as Commissioners and not on behalf of the Commission as a whole, sent the below letter to Attorney General Holder about recent events in Ferguson, Missouri (a link to the PDF is also available on the Letters tab of this webpage):

HeriotKirsanowLettertoDOJonFerguson

Heriot and Kirsanow write, “We are writing today as two members of the eight-member U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and not on behalf of the Commission as a whole. Our colleagues on the Commission recently sent you a letter expressing their deep concern over the recent and continuing events in Ferguson, Missouri. We share our colleagues’ overall sense of concern and also wish to urge the Department to take thoughtful and thorough measures to protect the civil rights of Ferguson’s residents. We write today to add a few words of our own to our fellow Commissioners’ thoughts.

We understand that the Department has opened an investigation into the police shooting death of Michael Brown, an African-American man who witnesses say was unarmed. Police officers perform a dangerous job and face many threats. We commend police departments across the country for all that they do to keep all of us safe. Furthermore, as President Barack Obama recently suggested, there is never any excuse for violence against police or for those who would use a young man’s tragic death as an excuse for vandalism or looting.  At the same time, men and women in blue sometimes misuse their power, and it is important to hold them accountable when they do. We therefore strongly support your Department’s inquiry into the circumstances of this troubling case.

In addition, we too are concerned about reports of potential violations of individual rights and liberties over the past few days, including those raised by news stories about police disruption of peaceful protests and about the arrests of journalists. The First Amendment rights of assembly and of the press are cornerstones of the American system of liberal democracy. Both as members of the Commission and as private citizens, we take allegations that they have been violated with the utmost seriousness. Consequently, we strongly urge that the Department and the local U.S. Attorney’s office take the steps necessary to protect the constitutional rights of the citizens of Ferguson.”

Here is a copy of the letter sent earlier by six other members of the Commission, referenced in the Heriot-Kirsanow letter above.