It only took until day three of Donald Trump’s new administration for the Department of Justice to stop all work done by its Civil Rights Division. The move strongly suggests that one of the core projects of Trump 2.0 will be to usher in a new Jim Crow era. They’re not shy about that goal, and they’re not starting off small.
The freeze on civil rights work has two components. First, there’s a freeze on new litigation, according to The New York Times. This means DOJ lawyers can’t file new civil rights cases until a Trump appointee is ensconced there and signs off. Theoretically, that’s not unusual during a presidential transition. Different administrations have different priorities, and the work of justice isn’t completely undone by a brief pause in opening cases.
However, the litigation freeze here is much broader and designed to grind the division to a halt. Usually, a new administration reviews the previous administration’s open cases and makes a case-by-case decision on which to continue. But now, the division is barred from pursuing settlements, continuing investigations, intervening in existing cases, or filing amicus briefs.
Does it get worse? Yes, it does. The Civil Rights Division was ordered to notify the DOJ’s chief of staff—i.e., Trump loyalist Chad Mizelle—about consent decrees finalized within the previous 90 days. Consent decrees are negotiated agreements enforceable in court, and they usually involve a city agreeing to federal oversight for police or jail reform. They represent some of the division’s most challenging and impactful work.
Getting there is a lengthy process, often begun after high-profile police killings, such as the murder of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. The DOJ has to open an investigation and determine whether those police departments have an overall pattern of behavior that violates the civil rights of the people they serve. The parties can then negotiate an agreement that memorializes the required reforms. Consent decrees are filed with the court, giving the federal courts an ongoing oversight role as well.
Protesters gather for a rally outside City Hall in Baltimore on May 2, 2015, the day after charges were announced against the police officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death.
Decrees last for years and require the ongoing cooperation and participation of city officials, community members, police departments, and the federal government. In other words, they represent a wholesale commitment of resources toward ensuring that police departments follow civil rights law. No wonder Trump hates them.
Two significant consent decrees were finalized in the last days of former President Joe Biden’s administration. In December, the Louisville Metro Government agreed to significant police reforms and ongoing federal oversight after a yearslong DOJ investigation after the killing of Breonna Taylor. Also, earlier this month, Minneapolis entered into a consent decree addressing numerous civil rights issues turned up in the DOJ investigation following the police murder of George Floyd.
However, neither has been approved by a judge yet, which is why there’s an opportunity for the Trump administration to unwind them.
Trump has made no secret of the fact that he thinks cops should get to do whatever they want. In his first administration, the DOJ abandoned Obama-era police investigations, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions whining that holding cops accountable would “undermine the respect for police officers.” And Trump campaigned on giving police immunity from prosecution. He even once called police violence against protestors a “beautiful thing to watch.”
With this freeze, Trump is signaling nothing less than the collapse of federal oversight of civil rights. This isn’t a priority shift whereby a new administration redirects resources to a different civil rights concern. It’s a wholesale rejection of the role of the Civil Rights Division, which is really a wholesale rejection of civil rights, period.
This freeze isn’t the only step the administration has taken to drag the country back into its grim past. Trump also rescinded Executive Order 11246, which had desegregated federal contracting way back in 1965 and has resulted in a far more diverse workforce.
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1965, when then-President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the order, he noted that Black poverty in America was grounded in “ancient brutality, past injustice, and present prejudice,” and that Black Americans were still “buried under a blanket of history and circumstance.”
“It is not a lasting solution to lift just one corner of that blanket. We must stand on all sides and we must raise the entire cover if we are to liberate our fellow citizens,” he added.
It represented an explicit commitment to uplifting Black people in employment, and it held for about 60 years.
It’s not the only progressive order that Trump has undone. In 2014, then-President Barack Obama expanded that civil rights commitment by issuing an order that prohibited contractors from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Trump just revoked that one as well.
There’s also the new edict requiring agency employees to snitch on each other if they happen to spot any stray diversity initiatives still happening. All employees in roles related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have been placed on paid leave, and all offices, positions, and programs must be terminated in 60 days.
Trump’s administration is also targeting diversity efforts in private workforces. The order revoking Johnson’s executive order includes a section encouraging the end of “Illegal DEI” in the private sector.
So here’s where we are after just one week. No more DEI roles or programs in the federal government. No more protection against discrimination in federal contracting. No more civil rights investigations or cases—at least until Trump’s nominee to head the division, conservative lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, gets confirmed.
If you’d like a taste of what Dhillon cares about, she represented that Google dude who was fired after sending around a weird memo about how men are better than women at tech jobs. She also fought stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic and worked to overturn the 2020 election results. This is not the resume of someone who will be genuinely committed to advancing civil rights. It’s the resume of someone who will be terrific at rolling them back.
Conservatives have long yearned to return to a time before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to unwind everything Johnson did to try to drag America out of the shame of Jim Crow. Sadly, Trump is just the person for the job.
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