The memo doesn’t state how long the freeze will last. However, it widely shuts down the civil rights division for at least for the first few weeks of the Trump administration. Trump’s nominee to lead the department, Harmeet K. Dhillon, is awaiting Senate confirmation.
The Department of Justice sent a memo to the interim director of the civil rights division, ordering a freeze to all ongoing litigation and a stop to any new cases.
It is unclear exactly how long the pause will last, though The Washington Post reported the division will halt action for at least a few weeks.
Trump is reversing the Civil Rights Division's positions on major legal issues, including voting rights, abortion rights and DEI initiatives.
It also signaled it could seek to back out of Biden-era agreements with police departments that engaged in discrimination or violence.
The U.S. Department of Justice has ordered its civil rights division to pause any ongoing litigation left over from the administration of former President Joe Biden, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday.
The directives halt ongoing civil rights cases and could jeopardize police reform agreements finalized in recent months in Minneapolis and Louisville.
The Justice Department has put a freeze on civil rights litigation and indicated it could rethink numerous police reform agreements with local departments that were negotiated under the Biden
The new Justice Department leadership has put a freeze on civil rights litigation, and suggested it may reconsider police reform agreements negotiated by the Biden administration.
According to a memo, DOJ attorneys cannot file new complaints, briefs or certain court papers “until further notice.”
The Justice Department appears poised to take a very different approach to investigating voting and elections.
The Trump administration is putting a halt to agreements that require reforms of police departments where the Justice Department found a pattern of misconduct, according to a memo issued Wednesday.