The White House has announced that it wants Gerald Reynolds to be the new chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and Abigail Thernstrom to be the new vice chairman. These are excellent choices. Reynolds was Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Education Department in the first term, and Thernstrom, who is already on the commission, is a brilliant writer on civil-rights and related issues (her books included Whose Votes Count?, American in Black and White, and No Excuses). Reynolds was once legal counsel at Linda Chavez’s Center for Equal Opportunity, and Thernstrom is on its board of directors.