(Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series examining the work of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, formed in July 2019 by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.)

Human rights groups sued Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week in a bid to shut down his Commission on Unalienable Rights, a panel that was swiftly and widely criticized when it was set up in 2019 because of its clear anti-human rights agenda. The suit highlights some of the core flaws in the design and conduct of the commission, including its unbalanced membership, withholding of records, and closed meetings. When it was created, many also critiqued the commission for its flawed mandate and purpose, predicting that it would seek to push a conservative agenda and undermine women’s, LGBTI, and socioeconomic rights.

The commission has now been running for more than eight months, but news coverage of its work and public attendance at its hearings has been minimal. What has the commission been doing? Have the fears of its anti-rights agenda been borne out?

A team from the Duke Law International Human Rights Clinic has been monitoring all of the commission’s hearings to answer these questions and more. In this article, we look closely at what has come out of the commission to date. In our next installment, we will analyze why its actions thus far are concerning to the protection of fundamental rights in the United States and abroad.

The bottom line: the commission is poised to adversely shape U.S. foreign policy, dismay U.S. allies, provide a playbook for other conservative governments looking to follow suit, and produce normative scaffolding for other, similarly conservative moves within the United States. Read more via Just Security