NAACP sounds alarm on ‘decline’ in civil rights commitment

The head of the NAACP says he met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions over concerns that recent policy changes “signal a threatening decline” in the Justice Department’s commitment to civil rights.

The Friday meeting came after Sessions suggested the agency would pursue fewer federal investigations of troubled police departments. The Justice Department this week also abandoned an Obama-era challenge to a key aspect of Texas’ voter ID law that is among the toughest in the nation.

NAACP President Cornell William Brooks says those changes are troubling. He says they “imply a disturbing departure” from the Justice Department’s enforcement of civil rights laws.

Sessions said this week that too much federal scrutiny on police departments could cause officers to be less effective in crime-fighting.

The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the meeting.