ABSTRACT
For presidents, civil rights policies are discretionary. The branches of government often cooperate on civil rights, but that is not to say that civil rights policies are bipartisan. Although not as political as economic policy, partisanship over civil rights is growing. Charges of reverse discrimination increasingly are dividing the parties and, thus, the nation (Edsall and Edsall 1991). This situation has occurred with the president changing from a civil rights liberal (Carter) to civil rights conservatives (Reagan and Bush).
