Gerald A. Reynolds took over as chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on December 6, 2004 and served a six-year term.

 

Reynolds received a B.A. in History from the City University of New York at York College, and a law degree from Boston University School of Law. He practiced law with Schatz & Schatz, Ribicoff & Kotkin, worked as a legal analyst for the Center for Equal Opportunity, and served as President of the Center for New Black Leadership. He also was on the National Advisory Board of Project 21, and was Senior Regulatory Counsel for the Kansas City Power & Light Company. In March 2002 President Bush appointed Reynolds, who once described affirmative action as a “big lie,” to be Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office for Civil Rights. He went on to become Deputy Associate General in the U.S. Department of Justice, and then returned to Kansas City Power & Light Company, as Assistant General Counsel, a job he still currently holds.

 

Reynolds edited the book, Race and the Criminal Justice System: How Race Affects Jury Trials, and has written for several newspapers and magazines.

 

In 2007 Reynolds was appointed a member of the Justice Advisory Committee for Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential Committee.

 

Civil Rights Commissioner Marches in Different Time (by Darryl Fears, Washington Post)

Shift Toward Skepticism for Civil Rights Panel (by Randal C. Archibold, New York Times)