In this address, the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, reviews the Division's civil rights enforcement efforts, and discusses the Reagan Administration's position on racial quotas. To dispel the notion that the Administration is not committed to equal rights, the Assistant Attorney General describes current enforcement activities in the form of investigations and litigation concerning sex and race discrimination in employment, voting rights, school desegregation, and the rights of the incarcerated and institutionalized. Replying to criticisms of Administration policy against numerical goals and quotas to remedy past discrimination, Reynolds reaffirms the government's adherence to the principle of equality which, he says, is contradicted by the concept of affirmative action through preferential treatment. Reynolds points out that no matter how well meant, measures to redress the effects of past discrimination with further discrimination will ultimately limit opportunities for individuals of all racial groups, and will invite a view of people as possessors of racial characteristics rather than as unique individuals. Maintaining that the Administration stands by the principle that individual rights take primacy over rights bestowed on groups because of race or sex, Reynolds stresses that civil rights policy will continue to reject racial quotas. (MJL)