Maryland
New Maryland Attorney General to Emphasize Civil Rights Violation Enforcement
He has been reimagining the 850-member office under his leadership, looking at what other attorneys general are doing, and considering what actions he will take. Maryland's new Governor, Comptroller, and Brown have said they will attack systemic problems to make the state fairer and more just.
Brown said the system in Maryland that allows a person to file a discrimination complaint with the Maryland Civil Rights Commission or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is not sufficient to root out violators. “The Civil Rights Commission has been doing great work for 53 years, but what they don’t do is they don’t do class action. They don’t do multi-jurisdictional,” he said. He said while the commission may have the authority to bring “big-impact litigation,” it typically does not. Brown thinks that a company with a pattern of discriminating against employees or a landlord with multiple complexes in other states outside Maryland who engages in bias should be held accountable. “We’re going to the General Assembly this session both for the authority and the resources it’s going to take [for] attorneys and investigators to be able to stand up that type of unit,” he said.
As Brown assumes office, Maryland has become the most diverse state on the East Coast according to census figures. He said it is crucial to correct the generational and pervasive inequities that have disproportionately affected people of color, including in housing, employment, policing and contracting. Brown recently told a town hall of advocates who were urging him to weigh in on housing, policing and other issues that his “North Star will be equity.” During a recent interview, Brown said “The principles, the values of fairness and justice will be the lens through which we will see the world."
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