Trump's new Justice Department leadership orders a freeze on civil rights cases

Source: AP

Updated 10:59 PM EST, January 22, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new Justice Department leadership has put a freeze on civil rights litigation and suggested it may reconsider police reform agreements negotiated by the Biden administration, according to two memos obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Attorneys in the department’s Civil Rights Division were ordered not to file any new complaints, amicus briefs or other certain court papers “until further notice,” one of the memos said. Another memo directed attorneys to notify leadership of any settlements or consent decrees — court-enforceable agreements to reform police agencies — that were finalized by the Biden administration within the last 90 days.

It said the new administration “may wish to reconsider” such agreements, raising the prospect that it may abandon two consent decrees finalized in the final weeks of the Biden administration in Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Those agreements, reached after investigations found police engaged in civil rights violations, still need to be approved by a judge. They were among 12 investigations into law enforcement agencies launched by the Civil Rights Division under Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/civil-rights-division-justice-department-trump-2dcb45cca7c9c9cdaea78282d4279c35