According to an internal memo, the U.S. Department of Justice has ordered its civil rights division to stop any ongoing leftover litigation from former President Joe Biden’s administration. The document, sent by the department’s new chief of staff Chad Mizelle, freezes any activity in the division, which deals with anti-discrimination laws—laws that affect Black folks the most.
According to Reuters, who reviewed the memo, it also instructs the division to not pursue any new cases or agree to settlements. Furthermore, it also states that the Department of Justice may revisit settlements from the Biden administration but didn’t specify when.
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This may possibly affect an agreement reached with Minneapolis earlier this month that mandates reforms on the city’s police department. Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police officers, federal investigators found a pattern of civil rights abuses within the department.
It could also affect police reforms taking place in Louisville that were announced in December. After the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor, investigators discovered a pattern of discrimination against Black resident from local law enforcement officials.
The memo doesn’t state how long the freeze will last. However, it widely shuts down the civil rights division for at least for the first few weeks of the Trump administration. Trump’s nominee to lead the department, Harmeet K. Dhillon, is awaiting Senate confirmation.
According to The Washington Post, the civil rights division usually decides on a case-by-case basis what litigation to pursue from the former administration.
The Justice Department launched a dozen investigations into state and local law enforcement agencies while Biden was in the White House, with findings issued in nine of them.
Trump made it clear on the campaign trail that as President he wouldn’t employ Biden’s use of federal power to monitor excessive police force and racial discrimination.
The president also approves of cops using more aggressive tactics including the use of stop-and-frisk.
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