Congress: Doing the Rights Thing

After nearly two years of political skirmishes with the White House over racial discrimination and quotas, the Senate last week voted 95 to 5 to pass a civil rights bill. The House is expected to act quickly to adopt the compromise bill, which overrides eight Supreme Court decisions and makes it easier for employees to sue in job-bias cases. An amendment to extend civil rights protections to Senate employees caused a last-minute sideshow of debate. Under the measure, the Senate's 6,000 workers, as well as political appointees in the Executive Branch, will be able to take their complaints to an office...