California’s Civil Rights Mafia
This City Journal opinion piece by Christopher F. Rufo and Kenneth Schrupp accuses California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state's Civil Rights Department (CRD) of running a 'shakedown campaign' against major corporations. The article uses the 2018 class-action lawsuit against Riot Games as a primary example, where the CRD intervened to block a $10 million settlement and ultimately secured a $100 million payout. The authors argue that the CRD, formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, has been weaponized to extract massive settlements from companies like Microsoft ($14 million) and Snap. They characterize the system as a 'mafia' with Newsom as the 'don' and CRD director Kevin Kish as his 'capo,' alleging that the agency funnels settlement cash to radical NGOs, supports unionization efforts, and enables left-wing lawyers to enact social change through litigation.
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