Donald Trump And The Racialized Weaponization Of The Department Of Justice
A few years ago someone told me that the United States Department of Justice had been created to fight the Klu Klux Klan and their post-reconstruction reign of terror and murder of Black Americans. That was a surprise to me – a pleasant one – so I searched the internet for the history of the DOJ and was directed to this Smithsonian site: “Created 150 Years Ago, the Justice Department’s First Mission Was to Protect Black Rights. In the wake of the Civil War, the government’s new force sought to enshrine equality under the law.”
Equality under the law - our 14th Amendment. I am occasionally struck and even humbled by how hard this country has worked, albeit intermittently, to live up to our founding ideals. We fought our bloodiest war over the freedom sought in the Declaration of Independence and promised in the Constitution.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
“All men” excluded women and all non-White men. Our founding fathers, while not on the right trail, were at least hiking in the right forest.
A new division within the DOJ - the Office of Environmental Justice - had been created in 2022 to coordinate federal environmental justice enforcement. Trump eliminated this division his first day in office. Also on day 1 Trump dismantled federal DEI programs in an executive order titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” The order called for the termination of all DEI, accessibility, and environmental justice offices and positions across the federal government. The five civil servants who made up the Office of Environmental Justice office were placed on administrative leave and a contract employee was fired.
Environmental Justice is a concept that seeks to address the unfair distribution of environmental hazards and benefits, particularly affecting marginalized communities. It aims to ensure that all people have the right to live in safe, healthy environments and to participate in environmental decision-making processes.
IBM describes Environmental Justice this way: Environmental injustice is the idea that environmental harm is inequitably distributed and influenced by patterns of racism and inequality. Environmental injustice occurs when low-income or otherwise underserved communities are impacted and overburdened by factors like toxic waste, resource extraction and other land uses from which the residents of those communities do not benefit.
For example, it is more likely for an interstate highway system to run through a marginalized community. In majority-white and wealthy neighborhoods, there are more investments in infrastructure, environmental laws are enforced and polluters are more likely to be held accountable. Community leaders in these areas are also connected to the decision-making process within zoning boards or city councils, who can better protect their interests.
Environmental injustice is also a public health issue. Residents of neighborhoods located near industrial sites, waste transfer stations, landfills and other sources of pollution often experience exposure to environmental hazards that pose serious health impacts.
Incidentally, internally, during the construction of the Interstate Highway System, the Federal Highway Administration accurately referred to the construction as, “Getting rid of niggertown.”
It’s jarring that the same department founded specifically to protect Black Americans from a brutal, decades long reign of terror, death, and torture is now being used to re-tilt the playing field under the guise of justice, equality and color blindness.
The Trump administration also rescinded consent decrees that the Department of Justice had established with law enforcement agencies across the country which were aimed at implementing police reforms following repetitive and often high-profile incidents of police misconduct. Always within marginalized communities.
The 1994 federal crime bill gave the Justice Department the ability to investigate police agencies for patterns and practices of unconstitutional policing and to require them to achieve specific goals before federal oversight ends. The authority was passed by Congress in response to the 1991 Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King.
Consent decrees - universally scorned by critics as an ineffective waste of taxpayer money as well as a cover for protecting Black and Brown criminals – have been effective in reducing violent policing, typically directed at poor Black and Brown communities, and have been credited with bringing significant reforms. A federal judge oversees the decree and ensures compliance.
So it’s a jarring and a sad sign of the times that the Department of Justice has been at the forefront of threatening to prosecute schools, businesses, and law firms for practicing “illegal” DEI and who has given their legal opinion that Trump has carte blanche authority to do whatever he wants in the round up and deportation of Brown immigrants and asylum seekers, refusing even the directives of the supreme court and federal judges of lower courts, to provide due process.
The mission of the Department of Justice has morphed somewhat in 135 years, but is still inspirational: “The mission of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States, ensure public safety against threats, provide leadership in preventing and controlling crime, and ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.”
Yet, under Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department has instructed the Civil Rights Division to freeze all new cases or investigations and indicated it would re-evaluate Biden’s administration policies in a memo – the latest shake-up in Trump’s takeover… actions that are part of a broader effort to shift the focus of the Civil Rights Division away from enforcing civil rights protections.
According to a screenshot viewed by the New York Times, the letter, sent by the chief of staff to the Bondi, instructs the temporary head of the division to ensure civil rights attorneys do not file “any new complaints, motions to intervene, agreed-upon remands, amicus briefs, or statements of interest,”
The freeze was requested so Trump appointees can decide if they want to “initiate any new cases” and ensure the government “speaks with one voice in its view of the law.”
A second memo was sent ordering the department to freeze activity involving consent decrees and notify the Chief of Staff Susie Wiles of any finalized within the last 90 days.
Wiles wrote “The new administration may wish to reconsider settlements and consent decrees negotiated and approved during the prior administration,”
Since Trump’s inauguration in January, some 250 attorneys – around 70% of the division’s lawyers – have left the Department of Justice.
Stacey Young, a former division attorney who left the department in late January stated to NPR, "The Civil Rights Division exists to enforce civil rights laws that protect all Americans. It's not an arm of the White House. It doesn't exist to enact the president's own agenda. That's a perversion of the separation of powers and the role of an independent Justice Department."
And in May, roughly 70 law professors, attorneys and justices filed an ethics complaint against Bondi with the Florida Bar – where she is licensed to practice law, accusing her of “serious professional misconduct” and political bias in favor of Trump.
The complaint alleges that the former Florida attorney general has worked to weaponize the Department of Justice by threatening department lawyers with discipline or termination if they fail “to zealously pursue the President’s political objectives.”
The Attorney General and attorneys in the Department of Justice are supposed to work not for the president of the United States, but for the people of the United States.
Trump’s first attorney general back in Trump 1.0 was Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III - named for two confederate heroes. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions to a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. The Alabama state legislature prevented his appointment based on charges of racism. It’s hard to imagine being TOO racist in 1986 Alabama, but Trump’s attorney general succeeded in the near impossible.
If you search for “Racist presidents”, you come up with a surprisingly long list, not all of which I agree with. But there is no doubt that if that list were prioritized, Donald Trump would be at the top. But here’s the thing: Donald Trump received approximately 77.3 million popular votes in the 2024 presidential election from American citizens. That total ranks among the largest vote totals ever for a presidential candidate.
We have important work to do. All of us.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/g-s1-66906/trump-civil-rights-justice-exodus
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pam-bondi-florida-bar-ethics-complaint_n_6842e94de4b004bd540a33ac
White elite hegemony is threatened and as always, the white elite responds with violence. The final verse of John Lennon's 1970 song, "Work Class Hero" includes the following:
"There's room at the top they are telling you still,
But first you must learn to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill"
It's time for the folks on the hill to be brought down to size, and the working class heros to regain the power they once held when unions were strong - all Americans deserve a decent life with good wages, healthcare, childcare and retirement income to ensure a peaceful old age.
Show up for No Kings Day, there's no excuse for sitting on the sidelines letting others carry the water. Get off the couch, get your bucket and carry your share!
His racist agenda is blatant and intententionally harmful. I will fight this to my last breath. He and his ilk will not win. Rise up, humanitarians and patriots. We shall overcome. Show up tomorrow for No Kings protest. Support immigrants. Keep hounding your Congress!