The Justice Department component responsible for pursuing potential civil rights violations by law enforcement has undergone a substantial contraction in personnel and a shift in investigative priorities, according to multiple former members of the unit. The Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, traditionally a central authority for national-level reviews of alleged police wrongdoing, has seen its number of trial attorneys fall dramatically and has been directed to scale back many investigations into excessive force.
Former lawyers who worked in the section described a decline in prosecutorial capacity that they attribute to a combination of staff departures and new guidance under the current administration restricting the unit's reach. They said the section's roster of trial attorneys has dropped from about 40 prior to the change in administration to no more than 13, a reduction that equates to roughly two-thirds of its trial attorney workforce. The sources included three people with knowledge of the unit's staffing and seven former section lawyers who spoke about internal changes.
Supervisory ranks have shrunk as well. Where the section previously counted around seven supervisors, just two remain in those roles and have not publicly indicated plans to leave. At least five senior lawyers announced plans to depart earlier this month, and most of those took early retirement offers, according to the former prosecutors.
New operational guidance and narrowed priorities
Former prosecutors described a recalibration of which law enforcement cases the section will pursue. Early in the current administration, supervisors told staff that many investigations into officers would proceed only under particularly egregious circumstances - for example, a death in custody or a sexual assault. State and local authorities, the former lawyers said, would generally assume the leading role in most other cases.
The Justice Department's public spokesperson for the Civil Rights Division, Natalie Baldassarre, stated that the section expects to expand its roster by hiring additional prosecutors and that it "continues to enforce our nation's civil rights statutes aggressively and efficiently." She pointed to recent prosecutions in areas such as law enforcement sexual assault and hate crimes and said, "We evaluate each matter based on the merits without prejudice. Nothing within our statutory purview is off limits." Baldassarre also noted that the section now includes more than 25 lawyers when counting trial lawyers, attorney advisers, and supervisors, and emphasized that the unit's nationwide remit "inherently requires prioritization of resources." She declined to elaborate further on staffing details.
Impact on high-profile incidents and case handling
Former attorneys expressed skepticism about the unit's ability to carry out comprehensive investigations into recent, high-profile incidents, citing two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month in which the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti drew attention. According to the former prosecutors, the unit has lost the capacity to pursue such probes with the same depth as before. The Justice Department has publicly said it is investigating the killing of Alex Pretti but has stated there is no basis for a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Renee Good.
Those who handled police-misconduct investigations described how caseloads and the pace of inquiries slowed as excessive-force probes stalled through the last year. A Reuters analysis of federal court dockets obtained from Westlaw shows that the number of people charged under the civil rights law most commonly used in federal excessive-force cases fell by about 36% last year, to 54 total cases - the lowest annual total since 2020.
In an example of the section's redirected work, civil rights prosecutors are now listed as handling the prosecution of former CNN anchor Don Lemon and eight others, who are accused of disrupting a Minnesota church service last month in protest of immigration enforcement, according to court filings.
Reasons for departures and internal reactions
Seven former prosecutors who spoke about the unit's internal dynamics described an exodus of veteran lawyers as the current administration adopted what some departed staff called a selective approach to enforcement. They said the approach appeared to limit investigations into perceived allies while encouraging scrutiny of perceived adversaries.
Laura-Kate Bernstein, a former trial attorney who left the department in May, described her decision in stark terms: "The idea of a system where every vulnerable group is not protected equally by the rule of law is not a system I can be a part of from the inside." The departures have, according to several ex-staffers, reduced the department's ability to prosecute civil rights violations across the board, including in areas the administration has publicly prioritized, such as antisemitic and anti-Christian hate crimes.
Harmeet Dhillon, who was nominated by the current administration to head the Civil Rights Division, has publicly encouraged some staff departures and has characterized career lawyers as unwilling or unable to advance the administration's agenda. The criminal section was exempt from one deferred resignation program offered last spring that prompted many departures elsewhere in the division.
Investigative standards and public accountability
Lawyers within the section have traditionally arrived on the scene of high-profile uses of force within days, if not hours, to begin inquiries. Former section attorneys told Reuters that video footage in both of the Minneapolis encounters appears to merit at least an examination of whether agents violated the federal statute that bars officers from willfully depriving anyone of their rights.
They also noted the high legal threshold required to bring a criminal civil rights case and acknowledged that in some widely publicized instances the department opted not to file charges. Still, the former attorneys argued that a thorough investigation, even if it does not lead to charges, can provide a detailed factual record and help build public trust. Samantha Trepel, a former senior civil rights official who now works at a nonprofit, said, "It's so anomalous. In situations like this, a criminal civil rights investigation is the most well-trodden path to accountability."
Todd Blanche, the department's second-ranking official, sought to manage expectations about the breadth of current investigations, warning reporters that they should not assume large-scale civil rights probes are underway in situations that the department views as limited in scope.
Remaining uncertainties
Former section lawyers said that the combination of staff turnover, narrowing prosecutorial guidance, and a reduced supervisory presence leaves open questions about how the unit will respond to future incidents involving law enforcement. They emphasized that while the division continues to bring certain high-profile cases, the curtailed staffing and reprioritization of investigations have materially altered the section's capacity to deploy rapid, thorough criminal civil rights investigations nationwide.
Several of those who departed spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared potential retaliation. Their accounts portray a unit in transition, with leadership and policy choices shaping which matters receive federal attention and which are expected to be left to state and local authorities.
The Justice Department's public statements stress ongoing enforcement of civil rights statutes and signal plans to add lawyers, while former staffers and public observers continue to assess whether recent organizational changes have substantively constrained the federal government's ability to independently investigate and, where warranted, prosecute alleged law enforcement misconduct.