In his final move as attorney general, Jeff Sessions on Wednesday issued a new policy that all but eliminates federal oversight of state and local law enforcement agencies that engage in unconstitutional and unlawful policing. While Sessions — a white man with money and political connections — will likely never be personally affected by this policy change, his decision to sabotage the legal instruments of federal civil rights enforcement is going to harm people and communities of color for years to come.
The Department of Justice is charged with investigating violations of the civil rights of United States citizens, and enforcing those rights in court if necessary. When the DoJ sues, the case is often resolved with a “consent decree”: essentially a court-approved settlement agreement in which the entity the DoJ sued agrees to modify its behavior and submit to oversight to prove its compliance. Consent decrees are:
“...court orders jointly agreed on by the federal government and a state or local law enforcement agency accused of serious rights violations. They usually require new training and policies to resolve these violations at a systemic level, with implementation overseen by a court-appointed monitor until the agency has successfully carried out the required reforms. Such decrees have covered everything from use of force to racial bias and officer hiring and oversight to basic recordkeeping.”
Jess Sessions openly declared his hostility to consent decrees--and to the Civil Rights Act itself--almost as soon as Trump appointed him Attorney General. He began during his confirmation hearings, by making it clear that his DoJ wouldn’t be interested in pursuing alleged civil rights violations by police and police departments. His reasoning?
“These lawsuits undermine the respect for police officers and create an impression that the entire department is not doing their work consistent with fidelity to law and fairness.”
After the Senate confirmed Sessions, he formally announced the Department’s opposition to consent decrees:
“Too much focus has been placed on a small number of police who are bad actors rather than on criminals. And too many people believe the solution is to impose consent decrees that discourage the proactive policing that keeps our cities safe. ... We will not sign consent decrees for political expediency that will cost more lives by handcuffing the police instead of the criminals.”
Sessions went even further, ordering the Department to review all past consent decrees--with the goal of eliminating as many of them as feasible--“to ensure that these pacts do not work against the Trump administration’s goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime.” Not content merely to ignore all present and future violations of civil rights, Sessions also wanted to travel back in time and eliminate all prior successful prosecutions.
When Trump fired Sessions, Sessions was apparently concerned that his anti-civil-rights legacy be preserved even in his absence. So on his way out, he issued a sweeping new policy effectively hamstringing the Justice Department’s ability ever to enter into another consent decree or similar settlement agreement in the future.
