Acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle issued the order this week to the Justice Department’s civil rights division to “not execute or finalize any settlements or consent decrees approved prior to January 20, 2025, 12:00pm.” 

“The new administration may wish to reconsider settlements and consent decrees negotiated and approved by the prior administration,” the memo reads.

Additionally, the memo “furthers the department’s goal to speak with one voice in pursuing the administration’s priorities,” according to a Justice Department official.

While it is quite common for new presidential administrations to review pending litigation in the DOJ to determine if it aligns with their policy positions, current and former Justice officials said new administrations make those types of reviews on a case-by-case basis, according to CNN.

The memo also orders civil rights lawyers to notify Mizelle of any settlements or consent decrees finalized in the past 90 days. The Minneapolis Police Department most recently entered a consent decree with the Justice Department.

The agreement required its officers to “promote the sanctity of human life as the highest priority in their activities” and “carry out their law enforcement duties with professionalism and respect for the dignity of every person,” according to the 171-page agreement. The Justice Department, under former President Joe Biden, and the Minneapolis Police Department entered the agreement more than four years after police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes, sparking protests in the Twin Cities and around the globe.

Another order from Mizelle ordered the civil rights attorneys not to “file any new complaints, motions to intervene, agreed-upon remands, amicus briefs, or statements of interest” until further notice.

During Trump’s first administration, he was critical of police reform agreements as he viewed them as anti-police. His Justice Department attempted to upend a consent decree for Baltimore’s police department arranged under former President Barack Obama that had not yet been approved by a judge by the time the new administration took over.

Trump’s efforts there wound up failing, with a federal judge in Maryland ruling the Justice Department was too delayed in their desire to end the agreement.

The DOJ’s decision to halt police reform agreements comes as the department additionally made moves to halt all litigation from its Civil Rights Division.

A memo, also from Mizelle, instructed division supervisor Kathleen Wolfe to ensure that civil rights attorneys do not file “any new complaints, motions to intervene, agreed-upon remands, amicus briefs, or statements of interest.”