DOJ scraps Biden-era police consent decree plans in Minneapolis and Louisville – Washington Examiner
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the dismantling of federal consent decrees that were put in place during the Biden governance to impose oversight on police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville. this decision, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, marks a significant shift away from Biden-era civil rights enforcement, which had been criticized for relying on disputed data and political pressures. The consent decrees were aimed at addressing police misconduct in response to incidents like the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor,but faced opposition from Republicans who argued that they were politicized and based on flawed methodologies.
Dhillon emphasized that the consent decrees would have led to unnecessary federal control over local police departments and described the Biden administration’s approach as a failed experiment. This move also extends to closing investigations into other police departments across the country, redirecting the Civil Rights Division’s focus towards issues like antisemitism and compelled diversity policies rather than progressive activism. Since Dhillon took office, over half of the division’s lawyers have left, prompting calls to bolster the team to support her agenda.
DOJ scraps Biden-era police consent decree plans in Minneapolis and Louisville
The Justice Department on Wednesday began dismantling one of the Biden administration’s most controversial legacy projects, abandoning federal consent decrees aimed at imposing burdensome oversight of local police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville.
Led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the end of the consent decrees is the latest move in a sweeping rejection of Biden-era civil rights enforcement, which used disputed data and political pressure to justify massive federal oversight of law enforcement.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Dismisses Biden-Era Police Investigations and Proposed Police Consent Decrees in Louisville and Minneapolis
🔗: https://t.co/8efV0GMPI9 pic.twitter.com/JMSGO8lUt4
— DOJ Civil Rights Division (@CivilRights) May 21, 2025
“These sweeping consent decrees would have imposed years of micromanagement of local police by federal courts and unelected monitors—without a legally or factually adequate basis,” Dhillon said. “We are ending the Biden Civil Rights Division’s failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments.”
Consent decrees are court-enforced agreements that allow the federal government to oversee and control local police departments, often for years at a time. Several of the Biden administration’s efforts came in response to high-profile incidents of alleged police misconduct, such as the May 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody and the police shooting of Breonna Taylor in March that same year.
The agreements were widely supported by Democrats and aligned with demands from Black Lives Matter and other progressive groups calling for federal oversight and systemic reform of local law enforcement agencies, though Republicans have suggested these isolated incidents were fraught with politicization and neglected the fuller story behind these police-related deaths.
The Trump administration’s DOJ said the earlier findings of unconstitutional policing were based on “flawed methodologies” and incomplete data, according to the Civil Rights Division’s press release.
This move follows one of the Trump DOJ’s initial actions following the inauguration, in which all police reform agreements between the federal government and local departments were ordered to be suspended.
Beyond the two cities listed in Dhillon’s announcement, the DOJ is also closing what it sees as politically charged investigations into police departments in Phoenix, Memphis, and Oklahoma City and the Louisiana State Police, fully withdrawing Biden-era investigations into alleged civil rights violations.
The shake-up is part of Dhillon’s broader effort to redirect the Civil Rights Division away from progressive activism and toward core constitutional protections, prioritizing inquiries into antisemitism, compelled DEI policies, and other equality issues neglected by the previous administration.
DOJ SUSPENDS POLICE REFORM AGREEMENTS
Over half of the division’s career lawyers have left since Dhillon took office, prompting calls from within for more lawyers to join her team at the DOJ.
“We need to replace those people, because I have a very robust, affirmative civil rights agenda that I think many Americans will be pleased,” Dhillon told conservative commentator Glenn Beck last month.
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