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Law360 (November 2, 2020, 9:49 PM EST) -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., accused four commissioners of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Friday of censoring a pandemic-specific update to a major 2018 report on federal funding for tribes.
The Commission's Republican and independent members voted in a Friday public meeting not to release the findings of a project taken up in June, intended to update the commission's 2018 report "Broken Promises: Continuing Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans" in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The commission launched the project to study the impacts of COVID-19 on tribal health care, infrastructure and housing following a May 26 request from Warren and Haaland, according to a June press release from the USCCR.
The commission declined to comment Monday but provided an unofficial transcript of Friday's meeting confirming the vote.
The move "to censor not just the report, but any official commission statements on the pandemic's impact on Native Americans, is disgraceful and a missed opportunity, especially because tribal communities have been disproportionately impacted by the virus," Warren and Haaland said in a joint statement issued Friday.
"By suppressing this report," they added, "certain members of the commission highlight the need for more scrutiny — not less — of this administration's failure to uphold its responsibilities to Native Americans."
The commission was split on releasing the report, resulting in a tie vote Friday that ultimately blocked its release, according to the transcript.
Chair Catherine E. Lhamon and Commissioners Debo P. Adegbile, David Kladney and Michael Yaki, all Democrats, voted to release the report.
Republican Commissioners Stephen Gilchrist, J. Christian Adams and Peter N. Kirsanow, and independent Gail Heriot, all voted against releasing the update, according to the transcript.
None of them chose to discuss their votes, simply stating "no" when they were called upon.
But in comments emailed Tuesday to Law360, Adams, who is president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, said that the draft report had "significant errors and omissions," including failure to mention a Federal Communications Commission plan to distribute up to $16 billion in rural broadband subsidies.
"Until there is more equity in the commission's work nothing is going to get done," Adams added. "The folks who wanted this report released were unwilling to compromise on anything in it or on any of the state advisory committee members."
Gilchrist, CEO of the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce, and Adams were appointed recently to the commission by President Donald Trump — Gilchrist in May and Adams in August.
Immediately following the vote Friday, Adegbile said that he felt "not only disappointment but a degree of consternation" at a vote that is "an abdication of our charge and responsibility," according to the transcript.
A subsequent 4-4 vote not to publish commissioner statements on the unreleased report was "unprecedented in my 15 years on the commission," Yaki added.
Lhamon, who is also legal affairs secretary for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, expressed frustration with the vote in a tweet Friday.
"I am disappointed by today's vote on our report about the specific impacts of COVID-19 on Native American communities," she wrote. "Our mandate @USCCRgov is to conduct careful study of civil rights issues like these and report our findings to Congress, the President, and the American people."
An executive summary of the 2018 Broken Promises report states that "due at least in part to the failure of the federal government to adequately address the wellbeing of Native Americans over the last two centuries, Native Americans continue to rank near the bottom of all Americans in terms of health, education, and employment."
In their May letter to the commission requesting an update, Warren and Haaland requested a study of how the pandemic has exacerbated the systemic issues identified in the report, and whether federal pandemic relief funds for tribes have been adequate to address tribes' needs.
The request also sought information on how the "lack of wireless networks on tribal lands — specifically broadband and telephone service — created additional barriers for Native Americans to cope with and react to the pandemic."
--Editing by Gemma Horowitz.
Update: This story has been updated with a comment from Commissioner Adams.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
