By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department has ordered its civil rights division to pause all ongoing litigation left over from former President Joe Biden’s administration, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday.
The memorandum freezes all activities in the department tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws. The department is being ordered not to bring any new cases or agree to settlements and says the DOJ may reconsider some settlements struck by the Biden administration in recent months.
That could potentially affect an agreement reached with Minneapolis earlier this month that imposes reforms on the city’s police department. Federal investigators there uncovered a pattern of civil rights violations following the police killing of a black man, George Floyd.
It could also affect police reforms in Louisville, where investigators found a pattern of discrimination against black residents after the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor. That deal was announced in December.
The Biden administration rushed to finish work on police oversight before President Donald Trump took office.
Since his inauguration on January 20, Trump has moved quickly to put his stamp on the federal government, launching a crackdown on immigration and taking steps to dismantle diversity programs in federal agencies. He also pressured private companies to abandon efforts to diversify their workforces.
Trump’s choice of Pam Bondi to head the DOJ has not yet been confirmed by the Senate. James McHenry, a longtime DOJ immigration attorney, is acting attorney general in the meantime.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
