Friday, April 01, 2005 12:00 PM
Civil Rights Enforcement: The Bulwark of Opportunity
R. Alexander Acosta
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights

The first Hispanic to serve as an assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice, Alex Acosta will give remarks concerning the Division’s accomplishments during the past four years and the future of civil rights in the 21st century. The Civil Rights Division is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights statutes, including those statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin in education, employment, credit, housing, public accommodations and facilities, voting and certain federally funded and conducted programs.

Acosta previously was a member of the National Labor Relations Board and served as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division. A native of Florida, Mr. Acosta earned his law degree from the Harvard Law School. After graduation, he served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and then worked at a law firm, where he specialized in employment and labor issues.

He is a 2004 recipient of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee Michigan’s Distinguished Leadership Award, the 2003 Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund's Excellence in Government Service Award and the 2003 DC Hispanic Bar Association’s Hugh A. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Award. He has also taught several classes on employment law, disability-based discrimination law and civil rights law at the George Mason School of Law.