DOJ is racing against time to record ‘woke’ police rules, lawyer says, as judge hears Breonna Taylor reform case
FIRST ON FOX: A Kentucky judge refused to immediately sign a consent decree for police reform forged by the Justice Department and the city of Louisville during a hearing that one courtroom attendee described as a hasty attempt by the Biden administration to hamstring President-elect Donald Trump.
Monday’s hearing was one of at least three cases of ongoing litigation in which the Biden administration seeks to entrench progressive policing policies at the 11th hour in a way that is difficult to reverse.
Federal Judge Benjamin Beaton has refused to “rubber stamp” a 240-page reform plan prompted by the 2020 police-involved shooting of Breonna Taylor, Oversight Project counsel Kyle Brosnan said in an interview Tuesday.
Taylor was killed in a police shooting after Louisville officers tried to serve her on a drug warrant Kenneth Walker’s boyfriend home, when her sweetheart fired a “warning shot” through the door, hitting Officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
Biden and Garland (Getty)
Brosnan noted that a consent decree is different from other legal agreements — in that it cannot simply be overturned by a presidential order or a change of heart by one of the parties involved.
Brosnan characterized the reforms to the Kentucky decree as “woke,” while his colleague, Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell, previously called them “a laundry list of BLM-type standards” that the left has long called for.
The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund joined the amicus brief filed, as Brosnan noted that LELDF head Jason Johnson has “first-hand experience” with consent decrees in the wake of the Freddie Gray mess and the ensuing investigation.
The consent decree alleges a pattern or practice of racial bias by Louisville police, including traffic stops, sexual assault investigations or use of force.
“And the judge went through each of those topics and said, ‘OK, what’s your basis for this?'” Brosnan recounted.
In court, DOJ attorney Paul Killebrew was asked for data on deadly force incidents to better understand the patterns outlined in the consent decree.
Killebrew reportedly responded that the DOJ could not provide such information to “maintain leverage” in any future litigation.
That dynamic was a theme during the marathon hearing, according to Brosnan.
However, that was not the only opportunity for DOJ and the city to convince Beaton to sign off on their decision, as the judge has given until Friday to file additional documents, but time is of the essence.
While Inauguration Day isn’t necessarily the deadline for Biden’s DOJ to approve the decree, it won’t be long before time is likely to run out, Brosnan said.
He compared that dynamic to how Trump — early in his first term — fired Obama’s Sally Yates, who kept her job, for refusing to implement his “Muslim ban.”
PROPOSED REDUCTIONS TO CHICAGO POLICE COULD LAND CITY IN COURT UNDER CONSENT DECREE, OFFICIALS WARN
Departing administration officials at various levels will remain in “acting” roles until the Senate confirms new nominees.
Therefore, Biden’s DOJ effectively has time until Pamela Bondi as attorney general or Harmeet Dhillon as head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division are in office to finalize their decision, the lawyer said.
Brosnan said there are at least two other police reform consent decrees going through the legal process: in Maryland and Minnesota.
On Jan. 6, the DOJ reached an agreement with Minneapolis — which still requires court approval — to reform the department’s “unconstitutional and illegal practices” that allegedly violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 14th Amendment.
In October 2024, the feds sued the Maryland Department of State Police alleging violations of the Civil Rights Act.
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Side by side with President-elect Donald Trump and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Getty Images)
“The United States alleges that MDSP violated Title VII when it used a certain physical fitness test and a certain written test for entry-level employment because the tests disqualified more female and African-American applicants than others and were unrelated to the job,” the court document reads.
Maryland police dispute the allegations.
The petitioners on Monday noted how the latest Trump administration began with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions reexamining Obama-era consent decrees.
“You’re well within your power as a judge to hit the brakes and wait to see what the new administration has to say,” Brosnan described their testimony to Beaton.
“Trump is right not to be handcuffed by the Biden administration — he won largely because of urban America’s crime problem.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOJ for comment.
