By Mark Joseph Stern

Slate Magazine

May 31, 2017

 

Shortly before the 2016 election, I wrote an article describing how President Barack Obama had managed to implement his civil rights agenda with little help—and, at times, much resistance—from Congress. Obama, I explained, had seized upon federal agencies' authority to interpret civil rights law, expanding protections for minorities by construing existing statutes as broadly as possible. I argued that the result was a legacy of equality and inclusion shielded by administrative safeguards that would endure well beyond Obama's tenure.