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FIRST ON FOX: A Kentucky judge refused to immediately sign a consent decree for police reform forged by the Justice Department and the city of Louisville during a hearing that one courtroom participant described as a hasty attempt by the Biden administration to harm President-elect Donald Trump.
Monday’s hearing was one of at least three cases of ongoing litigation in which the Biden administration he is trying to enshrine progressive police policies in his 11th hour in a way that is difficult to reverse.
Federal Judge Benjamin Beaton refused to be a “rubber stamp” for a 240-page reform plan prompted by the 2020 police-involved shooting of Breonna Taylor, Oversight Project attorney Kyle Brosnan said in an interview on Tuesday.
Taylor had been killed in a hail of police gunfire after Louisville officers tried to serve her on a drug warrant. the boyfriend of Kenneth Walker home, when his friend fired a “warning shot” through the door, striking Officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
Biden and Garland (Getty)
Brosnan noted that a consent decree is different from other legal agreements in that they cannot be revoked simply by presidential order or a change of heart by one of the parties involved.
Brosnan characterized Kentucky’s decree reforms as “woke,” while his colleague, Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell, previously called them a “BLM-type list of standards” that left asked for a long time.
The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund joined the amicus brief filed, as Brosnan noted that LELDF leader Jason Johnson has “first-hand experience” with the decrees of consent after the Freddie Gray riots and subsequent investigation.
The consent decree alleged a pattern or practice of racial bias by Louisville police, including traffic stops, sexual assault probes or use of force.
“And the judge went through each of those issues and said, ‘OK, what’s your basis for that?'” Brosnan explained.
In court, DOJ attorney Paul Killebrew was asked for data on deadly force incidents to better understand the patterns alleged in the consent decree.
Killebrew responded that the DOJ could not provide such information to “maintain leverage” in any future litigation.
That dynamic was a theme during the marathon hearing, according to Brosnan.
However, it was not the only opportunity for the DOJ and the city to convince Beaton to sign his decree, as the judge gave until Friday for additional documents to be filed, but time is of the essence.
While Inauguration Day isn’t necessarily a deadline for Biden’s DOJ to approve the decree, it won’t be long after that time is likely to run out, Brosnan said.
He compared the dynamic to how Trump, early in his first term, fired Obama’s acting DOJ chief, Sally Yates, for refusing to enforce his “Muslim ban.”
CHICAGO POLICE RESOURCE CUT PROPOSAL COULD LAND CITY IN COURT WITH CONSENT DECREE, OFFICIALS WARN
Outgoing administration officials at various levels will remain in “acting” roles until incoming nominees are confirmed by the Senate.
So Biden’s DOJ effectively has until either Pamela Bondi as attorney general or Harmeet Dhillon as head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division are in office to get his decree across the finish line, the lawyer said .
Brosnan said there are at least two other police reform consent decrees making their way through the legal process: in Maryland and Minnesota.
On Jan. 6, the DOJ reached a settlement with Minneapolis, which still requires court approval, to reform the department’s “unconstitutional and illegal practices,” allegedly in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 14th amendment.
In October 2024, the feds sued the Maryland State Police Department alleging violations of the Civil Rights Act.
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A side by side with President-elect Donald Trump and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Getty Images)
“The United States claims that MDSP violated Title VII when it used a certain physical fitness test and a certain written test to hire entry-level troopers because the tests disqualified more female and African-American applicants than others and were not work-related”, a court. the document is read.
Maryland police dispute the allegations.
Monday’s petitioners noted how the latest Trump administration began with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions reexamining Obama-era consent decrees.
“You’re on your own as a judge to hold back and wait and see what the new administration says here,” Brosnan characterized in his testimony to Beaton.
“Trump has a right not to be handcuffed by the Biden administration; he won in large part because of urban America’s crime problems.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOJ for comment.
