Tag: doj

Justice Dept says it will enforce SCOTUS ruling in every state with racially gerrymandered districts

nited States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said Thursday that the Justice Department will enforce the Supreme Court’s decision on gerrymandering districts in every state that has such a district.

The Supreme Court struck down two congressional maps in Louisiana Wednesday, ruling the state was unconstitutionally racially gerrymandering when it added a second majority black district. Louisiana redrew the maps in 2024 after a lower court ruled previous maps likely violated the Voting Rights Act because it did not include the second majority black district.

Missouri GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt asked the Justice Department earlier Thursday to enforce the Supreme Court ruling nationwide, noting it had the power to do so. 

“Senator — we are ON IT!” Dhillon replied on X. “The [Justice Department] under [Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche] continues to prioritize equal protection of the laws for ALL Americans, be it in employment, housing, education — and voting.” 

The commitment comes as 45 redistricting disputes remain unresolved in federal and state courts, casting a cloud of legal uncertainty over the fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives this November. 

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DOJ Launches Investigations Into 36 Illinois School Districts for Secretly Pushing Transgender Ideology and Gender Transitions on Kids Behind Parents’ Backs

The Department of Justice has launched sweeping civil rights investigations into 36 Illinois public school districts accused of pushing transgender ideology on students from pre-K through 12th grade.

The federal probe, announced by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division on Thursday, is also looking into whether these districts are allowing biological males into girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams, which would be a direct violation of Title IX and basic child safety.

The DOJ said it will be investigating whether the schools are promoting sexual orientation and gender ideology to students, and if they notified parents to allow them to opt out.

“The investigations will examine whether these Illinois School Districts, which are recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding, are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Supreme Court’s extensive precedents on parental rights as recently reiterated in Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor,” the DOJ explained in a press release.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a press release, “This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms.”

“Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests,” Dhillon added.

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Trump DOJ Closes SF Asylum Factory That Approved Cases at 4X National Rate

The federal government closed the San Francisco Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery Street ahead of schedule, leaving thousands of immigration cases in transition and prompting concerns among legal advocates about delays and confusion.

The closure, which took effect prior to the originally planned timeline, impacts a court widely considered a central hub for immigration proceedings in the United States.

During the court’s final hours of operation, only one individual remained in line for services as operations concluded.

Legal experts and advocates say the shutdown places approximately 15,000 cases in uncertainty within San Francisco alone.

Bill Hing, a professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco, described the scope of the impact.

“We are talking about 15,000 cases that are in limbo in San Francisco. It’s a major hub of immigration in the U.S. Many people who are applying for asylum come to San Francisco, come to the Bay Area, and this is major blow for them,” Hing said.

Ahead of the May 1 closure, the Department of Justice dismissed at least 20 of the court’s 22 immigration judges.

One of those judges, Jeremiah Johnson, spoke publicly in December about his termination.

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IRS weaponized Johnson Amendment to target conservative pastors while ignoring liberals, DOJ finds

Anew report released Thursday by the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias reveals what investigators describe as a “stark contrast” and a systemic double standard in how the Biden Internal Revenue Service policed American churches. 

“The Biden IRS … [opened] multiple investigations into Christian churches focused on the content of their sermons. The IRS asked these churches for detailed information about their operations, not just about the alleged violations,” the task force wrote. 

“But during the same time, when other houses of worship gave sermons that reflected different scriptural interpretations on culture war issues, or prayed for Democrat candidates, the Biden IRS appeared to take no action,” the group added.

The task force, which was established by President Donald Trump in an executive order last year, reviewed internal administration discussions, case files and prosecutorial decisions from the Biden administration across 17 federal agencies. 

Beyond the IRS’s apparent targeting of conservative Christian churches, the task force concluded that the Biden administration’s prosecution strategy, internal policies and practices demonstrated an overall anti-Christian bias that permeated throughout the federal government during that period.  

“No American should live in fear that the federal government will punish them for their faith,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who chaired the task force. “As our report lays out, the Biden Administration’s actions devastated the lives of many Christian Americans. That devastation ended with President Trump.” 

The task force determined that the Biden administration used the Johnson Amendment – a 1954 provision added to the tax code which prohibits 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates – to probe churches that hold traditional Christian teachings, arguing those positions amounted to political support for Republican candidates. 

Though the amendment, in theory, limits what pastors whose churches have 501(c)3 nonprofit status can say in evaluating candidates running for political office, it has only been “sporadically enforced,” according to the Justice Department.

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DOJ Targets Blue State for Giving Illegals Financial Assistance While Neglecting U.S. Citizens

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to scrap New Jersey rules allowing illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition rates at public colleges, even though Americans living outside of New Jersey are charged higher tuition.

“Imagine being denied the opportunity of education in your own country,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said, according to a Department of Justice news release.

“By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, the state of New Jersey is doing just that,” he said.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division added that “this is a simple matter of federal law: in New Jersey and nationwide, colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens.”

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Justice Department sues New Jersey for granting tuition support for illegals but not citizens

The Justice Department has filed a complaint against New Jersey laws that provide in-state tuition and financial assistance to illegal immigrants. 

The laws discriminate against U.S. citizens who aren’t granted the same tuition rates, scholarships and other subsidies, which is unconstitutional, according to the complaint.

“Imagine being denied the opportunity of education in your own country. By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, the state of New Jersey is doing just that,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement. 

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said that the agency wouldn’t tolerate U.S. citizens who are being treated like “second-class citizens in their own country.” 

“This is a simple matter of federal law: in New Jersey and nationwide, colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” he said. 

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DOJ Sues New Jersey Over Mask Ban for Law Enforcement

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing New Jersey over a law that bars local, state, and federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks and requires them to show identification before making arrests.

Filed on April 29 in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, the lawsuit requests an injunction to block New Jersey’s Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act, which applies to all law enforcement officers, including federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The Justice Department argues that the law is unconstitutional, calling it an “illegal attempt to regulate the federal government” and saying that it would compromise the safety of federal officers.

Threatening federal agents with prosecution for concealing their identities during detentions “chills the enforcement of federal law and compromises sensitive law enforcement operations,” the agency said.

“The Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the privacy and safety of law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like New Jersey’s,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement.

In February, a federal judge preliminarily blocked a similar law in California that barred federal agents from concealing their faces while working.

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Trump DOJ, ATF Unleash Massive Second Amendment Overhaul — 34 New Reforms Slash Red Tape for Gun Owners, Dealers and Small Businesses

In a HUGE victory for the Second Amendment and law-abiding Americans everywhere, the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives announced this week they are unleashing 34 notices of final and proposed rulemaking to slash the mountain of Biden-era red tape strangling gun owners and Federal Firearms Licensees.

The move follows a top-to-bottom review of ATF regulations ordered by President Trump’s Executive Order 14206, “Protecting Second Amendment Rights.”

After years of the Biden ATF acting as an unaccountable attack dog against honest gun shops and citizens, the agency is finally being forced to listen to industry experts, FFLs, and everyday Americans who just want to exercise their God-given constitutional rights without the federal government breathing down their necks.

This is the first wave of reforms. More are coming. The Trump administration is keeping its promise to dismantle the deep-state gun-control apparatus piece by piece.

“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” said U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “This Department of Justice is ending the weaponization of federal authority against law-abiding gun owners. We will continue to vigorously defend their rights as the Constitution demands.”

Below are the summary of the 34 proposed and final regulatory changes affecting firearms, explosives, importation, federal firearms licensees (FFLs), and ATF procedures.

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Federal Judge Dismisses DOJ Lawsuit Requesting Arizona Voter Data

A federal judge on April 28 dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes that sought access to state voter registration data.

Judge Susan Brnovich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona wrote in a 13-page ruling that Arizona’s voter registration list is “not a document subject to request by the Attorney General“ and that the DOJ did not provide sufficient argument to ”convince the court” to allow access to the data.

“Accordingly, the Court will dismiss the Attorney General’s claim with prejudice because amendment would be legally futile,” Brnovich wrote.

The DOJ filed its lawsuit against Fontes’s office in January, saying he refused to provide the department with the list in August 2025.

It asked for Fontes to provide the DOJ with “the current electronic copy of Arizona’s computerized statewide voter registration list, with all fields, including each registrant’s full name, date of birth, residential address, and either their state driver’s license number, the last four digits of their Social Security number, or [Help America Vote Act] unique identifier” within five days of a court order.

The DOJ had argued that the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act require that states maintain voter lists to ensure their accuracy. Further, it said that Congress provided the attorney general with the capacity to request state voting records under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

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DOJ Sues Big Tech Giant Cloudera for Blocking American Workers in Favor of Foreign Visa Holders, Same Company Sued Trump in 2017 Over Refugee Ban

The Trump Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit against Cloudera Inc., a major Silicon Valley tech company, for deliberately discriminating against qualified American workers in favor of foreign visa holders for high-paying tech positions.

The Civil Rights Division’s lawsuit accuses Cloudera of violating the Immigration and Nationality Act by creating a sham, separate hiring process designed to deter and exclude American citizens while fast-tracking foreign workers on temporary visas.

“Employers cannot use the PERM sponsorship process as a backdoor for discriminating against U.S. workers,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “The Division will not hesitate to sue companies who intentionally deter U.S. workers from applying to American jobs.”

According to the DOJ, Cloudera set up a dedicated email address for job applications that was deliberately configured not to accept emails from outside the company.

American workers who followed the company’s posted instructions received automatic bounce-back messages stating that their applications could not be processed.

The DOJ said in a press release:

The complaint alleges Cloudera intentionally created a separate recruitment and hiring process to deter U.S. workers from applying, and also did not consider them, for lucrative technology jobs that the company earmarked for people with temporary employment visas. Cloudera created an email account that did not allow external emails, but still instructed applicants to use that unworkable email address to apply for jobs. The Division received a charge of employment discrimination from one U.S. worker who tried to apply using the email account Cloudera set up, but received a bounce back notification. When sponsoring current employees under the permanent labor certification program (PERM), Cloudera purposely failed to recruit U.S. workers in good faith.

At the same time, Cloudera was actively sponsoring foreign workers for permanent residency through the Department of Labor’s PERM program, a process that legally requires employers to make a genuine good-faith effort to recruit and hire qualified American workers first.

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