On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that could end federal consent decrees. This comes after the U.S. Department of Justice got extensions for filing documents related to the Louisville consent decree, leaving the future of this roadmap for police reform uncertain.
Under the order, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi would “modify, rescind, or move to conclude” all federal consent decrees within 60 days.
When asked about the status of Louisville’s consent decree, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said he’s unsure what to expect.
“We'll wait to see what the federal court does,” Greenberg said Tuesday at a press conference. “We're not sure in terms of the timing of all of that, but we will be ready to proceed and move forward when the federal court makes a decision.”
Louisville Metro and the Justice Department signed the consent decree last December. The 259-page document outlines a plan for policing reform that the city would be required to complete, following a scathing federal report about LMPD’s discriminatory policing practices.
Louisville is one of several cities under a consent decree. Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis and New Orleans have their own agreements outlining policing reform.
Jim Mulvaney is an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former deputy commissioner of New York States’ Human Rights Division. In 2012, he helped lead an investigation that led to the consent decree in Suffolk County that revealed discriminatory practices toward Latinos and immigrants. The Suffolk County Police Department achieved compliance last year, according to the Justice Department.
Mulvaney said Trump’s executive order did not surprise him.
“Trump has said there are other things that are more important to us than obeying the law,” Mulvaney said, “and so I think that it certainly is the impression that they're dumping all of these cases.”
According to a report from the Guardian, the Justice Department has lost 70% of its civil rights division lawyers since January.
“Donald Trump is not a guy who was interested in civil rights,” Mulvaney said. “So he doesn't have much regard for the rule of law or or the rule of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’”
In January, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Beaton — who was appointed by Trump in 2020 — did not make a final ruling on entering Louisville’s consent decree as a court order. Such a decision would have started the consent decree process.
When Louisville Inspector General Ed Harness saw a status conference last month was pushed back, he said he had a feeling something was amiss.
“I don't know why it didn't dawn on me earlier,” he said in an interview.
Police reform locally
Greenberg promised Tuesday the city would institute policing reform without the consent decree.
“As I have been clear for the past several months, we are moving forward,” Greenberg said. “LMPD is moving forward with continued improvements, continued reform, and regardless of if something happens in federal court.”
Spokespeople for LMPD did not respond to requests for comment.
Mulvaney said localized efforts are possible, but there will be “a steep learning curve.”
“Yes, locally, they could execute changes,” he said. “Now, are they going to do that? How ingrained is this culture of malice embedded in the Louisville [Metro] Police Department?”
Harness said he is working to propose a memorandum of understanding that would put his office in charge of monitoring police reform locally.
“If there's no federal consent decree, then what will the enforcement mechanism be if the department fails to live up to the reforms in the consent decree?” Harness said.
Under the agreement, LMPD’s Professional Standards Unit would report the progress of addressing civilian complaints to the inspector general’s office every two weeks. Harness’ office would also conduct confidential investigations into LMPD under the agreement.
He said the document would not be ready until late May.
“We're in a critical phase here,” Harness said. “So there's a lot of questions about just how they're going to make the department responsive and responsible to the city at this point.”
It took nearly a year for the city and the Justice Department to negotiate a draft of the agreement.
Racial justice advocates pushed for city officials to sign the consent decree before Trump’s inauguration. The Republican president largely abandoned consent decrees during his first administration.
