Donald Trump has ordered the civil rights division of the Justice Department to freeze all actions on current cases.
A memo to Kathleen Wolfe, Trump's designated supervisor of the civil rights division, ordered her to ensure that attorneys in the division do not file "any new complaints, motions to intervene, agreed-upon remands, amicus briefs, or statements of interest.”
The memo was sent by Chad Mizelle, the department’s new chief of staff. It says that the freeze is being implemented to be “consistent with the Department’s goal of ensuring that the Federal Government speaks with one voice in its view of the law and to ensure that the President’s appointees or designees have the opportunity to decide whether to initiate any new cases.”
Wolfe was informed in a second memo that she should notify the Justice Department of any consent decrees signed in the last 90 days, including agreements with the police departments in Minneapolis, Memphis, and Louisville. Those decrees are now in jeopardy, along with a dozen other investigations into police departments across the nation.
In December, the department announced a federal oversight agreement with the city of Louisville, where the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor helped spark nationwide justice protests. In early January, the civil rights division forged a police accountability plan with city leaders in Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd galvanized the nationwide protests even further. Neither has been approved by a judge.
Trump did not pursue similar police accountability investigations during his first term in the White House. As a candidate in this year’s election, he clearly signaled his intent to abandon Biden’s use of federal power to try to curb excessive police force and racial discrimination.
He said on the campaign trail that police at times must be “extraordinarily rough” to stamp out urban mayhem and endorsed more aggressive tactics from police, including the use of stop-and-frisk to search suspects.
“It’s beyond unusual — it’s unprecedented. We’ve never seen this before at this scale with any transfer of power, regardless of the ideology of any incoming president or administration,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
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“This should make Americans both angry and deeply worried. This is more than just a changing course of philosophy — this is exactly what most people [in the civil rights community] feared: a Justice Department that was created to protect civil rights literally abdicating its duty and responsibility to protect Americans from all forms of discrimination.”
Mr. Hewitt believes there is one, and only one, interpretation of "civil rights." In fact, the consent decrees authored by this justice department were designed to hog-tie police and make their jobs impossible to perform, endangering the public and leaving officers open to lawsuits and action that could end their careers.
There has got to be a better way of reigning in police excesses. These consent decrees are not the answer.
There are at least two other police reform consent decrees going through the legal process, one in Maryland and one in Minnesota.
On Jan. 6, the DOJ reached an agreement with Minneapolis, which still requires court approval, to reform the department’s "unconstitutional and unlawful practices" allegedly counter to the Americans With Disabilities Act and 14th Amendment.
In October 2024, the feds sued the Maryland Department of State Police alleging Civil Rights Act violations.
The notion that cops now have a green light to beat on black people and other minorities is absurd. Cities don't need the permission of the Justice Department to reform their police departments.
There will be reforms, whether ordered by the federal government or not.
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