Several internal documents acquired by several media sites reveal that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) directed its Civil Rights Division to stop all current lawsuits from the previous administration of former President Joe Biden and refrain from pursuing new cases or settlements.
The memoranda, addressed to Kathleen Wolfe, the acting chief of the Civil Rights Division, stated that the DOJ may reexamine certain agreements that the Biden administration had struck in the last 90 days. The DOJ’s agreements with the cities of Minneapolis and Louisville, which were notable settlements impacted by the freeze, required judicial approval before going into force. The division’s investigations revealed civil rights violations by the police in Minneapolis after George Floyd was killed and by the police in Louisville after Breonna Taylor was killed.
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One document claimed that it was vital to guarantee “that the federal government speaks with one voice in its view of the law and to ensure that the President’s appointees or designees have the opportunity to decide whether to initiate new cases.”
The US Senate has not yet confirmed Harmeet Dhillon, a nationally recognized lawyer, as President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Civil Rights Division. She has gained national recognition by taking on contentious legal cases in California, including those that challenge how public schools handle gender identity issues, the exclusive platforming of certain speech by social media companies, the 2020 COVID restrictions on in-person worship services, and the requirement for corporate diversity programs.
Dhillon’s legal advocacy stands in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s heightened focus on prosecuting hate crimes, prosecuting anti-abortion protesters at reproductive health clinics for their crimes, and pursuing injunctions to prevent several states from expelling noncitizens from the voter rolls.
