It solely took till day three of Donald Trump’s new administration for the Division of Justice to stop all work done by its Civil Rights Division. The transfer strongly means that one of many core tasks of Trump 2.0 will probably be to usher in a brand new Jim Crow period. They’re not shy about that aim, they usually’re not beginning off small.
The freeze on civil rights work has two elements. First, there’s a freeze on new litigation, in accordance with The New York Instances. This implies DOJ attorneys can’t file new civil rights circumstances till a Trump appointee is ensconced there and indicators off. Theoretically, that’s commonplace throughout a presidential transition. Completely different administrations have completely different priorities, and the work of justice isn’t utterly undone by a quick pause in opening circumstances.
Nonetheless, the litigation freeze right here is way broader and designed to grind the division to a halt. Normally, a brand new administration evaluations the earlier administration’s open circumstances and makes a case-by-case decision on which to proceed. However now, the division is barred from pursuing settlements, persevering with investigations, intervening in current circumstances, or submitting amicus briefs.
Does it worsen? Sure, it does. The Civil Rights Division was ordered to notify the DOJ’s chief of workers—i.e., Trump loyalist Chad Mizelle—about consent decrees finalized throughout the earlier 90 days. Consent decrees are negotiated agreements enforceable in courtroom, they usually often contain a metropolis agreeing to federal oversight for police or jail reform. They symbolize among the division’s most difficult and impactful work.
Getting there’s a prolonged course of, typically begun after high-profile police killings, such because the homicide of Freddie Grey in Baltimore. The DOJ has to open an investigation and decide whether or not these police departments have an general sample of habits that violates the civil rights of the folks they serve. The events can then negotiate an settlement that memorializes the required reforms. Consent decrees are filed with the court, giving the federal courts an ongoing oversight position as properly.
Decrees final for years and require the continuing cooperation and participation of metropolis officers, neighborhood members, police departments, and the federal authorities. In different phrases, they symbolize a wholesale dedication of assets towards guaranteeing that police departments comply with civil rights legislation. No surprise Trump hates them.
Two important consent decrees had been finalized within the final days of former President Joe Biden’s administration. In December, the Louisville Metro Authorities agreed to important police reforms and ongoing federal oversight after a yearslong DOJ investigation after the killing of Breonna Taylor. Additionally, earlier this month, Minneapolis entered right into a consent decree addressing quite a few civil rights points turned up within the DOJ investigation following the police homicide of George Floyd.
Nonetheless, neither has been accepted by a decide but, which is why there’s a possibility for the Trump administration to unwind them.
Trump has made no secret of the truth that he thinks cops ought to get to do no matter they need. In his first administration, the DOJ deserted Obama-era police investigations, with Lawyer Basic Jeff Classes whining that holding cops accountable would “undermine the respect for cops.” And Trump campaigned on giving police immunity from prosecution. He even once called police violence towards protestors a “stunning factor to look at.”
With this freeze, Trump is signaling nothing lower than the collapse of federal oversight of civil rights. This isn’t a precedence shift whereby a brand new administration redirects assets to a distinct civil rights concern. It’s a wholesale rejection of the position of the Civil Rights Division, which is known as a wholesale rejection of civil rights, interval.
This freeze isn’t the one step the administration has taken to pull the nation again into its grim previous. Trump additionally rescinded Government Order 11246, which had desegregated federal contracting manner again in 1965 and has resulted in a much more diverse workforce.
In 1965, when then-President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the order, he noted that Black poverty in America was grounded in “historical brutality, previous injustice, and current prejudice,” and that Black Individuals had been nonetheless “buried beneath a blanket of historical past and circumstance.”
“It isn’t an enduring answer to carry only one nook of that blanket. We should stand on all sides and we should elevate the whole cowl if we’re to liberate our fellow residents,” he added.
It represented an express dedication to uplifting Black folks in employment, and it held for about 60 years.
It’s not the one progressive order that Trump has undone. In 2014, then-President Barack Obama expanded that civil rights dedication by issuing an order that prohibited contractors from discriminating towards workers primarily based on sexual orientation or gender identification. Trump just revoked that one as properly.
There’s additionally the brand new edict requiring company workers to snitch on one another in the event that they occur to identify any stray variety initiatives nonetheless taking place. All workers in roles associated to variety, fairness, and inclusion (DEI) have been positioned on paid depart, and all places of work, positions, and packages should be terminated in 60 days.
Trump’s administration can also be focusing on variety efforts in non-public workforces. The order revoking Johnson’s government order features a part encouraging the top of “Unlawful DEI” within the non-public sector.
So right here’s the place we’re after only one week. No extra DEI roles or packages within the federal authorities. No extra safety towards discrimination in federal contracting. No extra civil rights investigations or circumstances—a minimum of till Trump’s nominee to go the division, conservative lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, will get confirmed.
In case you’d like a style of what Dhillon cares about, she represented that Google dude who was fired after sending round a bizarre memo about how males are higher than ladies at tech jobs. She additionally fought stay-at-home orders through the COVID-19 pandemic and labored to overturn the 2020 election outcomes. This isn’t the resume of somebody who will probably be genuinely dedicated to advancing civil rights. It’s the resume of somebody who will probably be terrific at rolling them again.
Conservatives have lengthy yearned to return to a time earlier than the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to unwind all the pieces Johnson did to attempt to drag America out of the disgrace of Jim Crow. Sadly, Trump is simply the particular person for the job.
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