Trump’s DOJ asks to dismiss consent decree mandating sweeping Minneapolis police reforms

The Trump administration has moved to dismiss a consent-decree agreement between Minneapolis and the Department of Justice that would usher in sweeping reforms to the city’s Police Department.

In a motion filed Wednesday, attorneys from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division asked the court to dismiss the case, saying “the United States no longer believes that the proposed consent decree would be in the public interest.”

“The United States therefore does not wish to pursue this action any longer and hereby withdraws its support, agreement and concurrence with the Motion for Approval of Settlement,” the motion says.

The DOJ’s action comes just days before the fifth anniversary of George Floyd‘s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, and the timing was noted and decried by leaders across the city.

The consent decree was the result of a Justice Department investigation following Floyd‘s murder that concluded the MPD had engaged in a pattern of unjustified deadly force, unlawful discrimination against Black and Native American people and violated free-speech rights.

The move is part of a broader effort announced by the DOJ on Wednesday to reel back attempts started under President Joe Biden’s administration to bring federal oversight to local police agencies across the country.

The DOJ announced it will also begin to dissolve a similar police consent decree in Louisville, K.Y., along with closing investigations and retracting findings of constitutional violations by police departments in Phoenix; Trenton, N.J.; Memphis; Mount Vernon, N.Y.; Oklahoma City; and the Louisiana State Police.

“Overbroad police consent decrees divest local control of policing from communities where it belongs, turning that power over to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, often with an anti-police agenda,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department‘s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “Today, we are ending the Biden Civil Rights Division’s failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments with factually unjustified consent decrees.”

The DOJ’s request for dismissal of the consent decree in Minneapolis now lies with U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson.

For months it has been an open question whether the federal consent decree would cross the finish line with a judge‘s signature to become enforceable. Minneapolis and federal officials hurried last year to seal an agreement before Trump took office. He has opposed consent decrees, portraying them as federal overreach. Since the parties reached an agreement Jan. 6, the case was met with three consecutive 30-day delays in court proceedings.

Attorney Ben Crump, who represented the family of George Floyd, released a statement Wednesday calling the decision a “slap in the face” to Floyd‘s family.

“The DOJ is not just rolling back reform, it is attempting to erase truth and contradicting the very principles for which justice stands,” Crump said.

Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O‘Hara told reporters at a City Hall news conference Wednesday that they would enact all the reforms laid out in the consent decree even if it‘s dismissed by a judge.

“We‘re going to move forward with that work, with or without the White House,” Frey said. He called it “predictable” that the DOJ motion would come within a week of the anniversary of Floyd‘s murder.

O‘Hara made similar remarks that the Police Department will stay committed to enacting the reforms.

“We have been and we remain committed to real, lasting change, both for our residents and for the men and women who serve here,” he said.

The chief addressed both the department‘s intention to follow through with the reforms, and that the ongoing changes include increased support for officers and their ability to do their jobs.

Asked if the motion to dismiss the consent decree sends a message to officers that the reforms aren’t important, O‘Hara said he‘s confident that, “by and large today, the men and women who remain here are deeply committed to getting this right.”

“They are not about to turn their backs on their fellow officers or the residents of this community,” O‘Hara said.

The move to dismiss the decree comes weeks after rumors spread about the possibility of Trump pardoning former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s federal conviction in connection with the murder of Floyd. Earlier this week, O’Hara said there’s “no credible information” that the pardon will happen.

The city later responded in court in opposition to a dismissal, calling the conflicting viewpoints regarding the consent decree by the current and former presidential administrations “irreconcilable.”

“Up is down,” wrote Minneapolis City Attorney Kristyn Anderson. “Not long ago, the United States represented to this Court that the proposed Consent Decree served the public interest. Now, under the Trump administration, the United States says the opposite.”

In July 2023, a Hennepin County judge signed off on a consent decree between Minneapolis and state government. That agreement, said Minnesota Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero, “isn’t going anywhere.”

“Under the state agreement, the city and MPD must make transformational changes to address race-based policing. The tremendous amount of work that lies ahead for the city, including MPD, cannot be understated. And our department will be here every step of the way,” Lucero said Wednesday.

The state‘s court-enforceable settlement agreement requires the city and the MPD to make significant changes, including “recognizing the humanity and civil rights of community members, addressing race-based policing, and strengthening public safety.”

A report was released Tuesday by the nonprofit Effective Law Enforcement For All (ELEFA) detailing how much headway the city has made. It showed Minneapolis police made progress toward implementing reforms by the state-ordered settlement agreement in its first year, such as reductions in the backlog of use-of-force and police misconduct cases and in crafting new policies, including regarding use of force. Other policies, such as nondiscriminatory policing guidelines, were shown to be “near” approval, while others are “still in-progress,” such as revised policies for stops and searches.

Faced with the Trump administration’s move to dismiss the federal consent decree, Frey said the city will be asking ELEFA to also oversee the proposed federal set of reforms.

O‘Hara has said the state agreement covers much the same territory.

“And in a lot of areas where there are differences, it‘s just adding a couple of other things [to] what we‘re doing — getting eight hours more training here, creating a new training program there,” he said in February.

A 2021 report by the think tank Council on Criminal Justice’s Task Force on Policing said reforms enforced at the federal level by the DOJ have effectively reduced uses of force, civil litigation and improper stops, frisks and searches.

Shortly after the dismissal was announced, outcry poured in from community groups and police-reform activists.

“Community members under the consent decree demanded that MPD move away from a culture of violence to a culture that prioritizes humanity,” said Julio Zelaya, the policy and advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. “Community members want MPD to be held accountable and to prioritize building relationships.”

Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said the consent decree provided a “roadmap” for necessary reforms, but “in the absence of federal court oversight, the community is prepared to continue to push for the reforms we need.”

Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne said the city could have done more to anticipate the undoing of the federal consent decree before Trump took office, calling the government‘s motion to dismiss a “cruel action” meant to “sanitize our history.”