Story here, although no one has included a copy of the actual memorandum. (Protip: If a story about a legal development does not include a link to the document discussed, the reporter is bad at his job).
As reported, the division must stop litigating ongoing cases, bring no new cases, and submit recent settlements (under § 12601) for reconsideration. The latter includes consent decrees with many police departments, including Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd and Louisville following the murder of Breanna Stewart.
We have discussed government enforcement a bit and will talk more when we reach Remedies at the end of the semester. One drawback to US (rather than private) enforcement is the risk of changes in priorities when administrations change. But one administration undoing another's work and freezing all litigation efforts is unusual. In 2017, the Obama DOJ rushed to finalize a bunch of settlements with police departments to get them under the wire before the Trump DOJ took over. But the new department did not undo those settlements.
Changes in administrations historically affect things at the margins and ake some time to implement. This is why there is usually some legal continuity across administrations, regardless of party and ideology. (For example, it took several years for the Reagan DOJ to shift away from the antitrust approach of the Carter DOJ). The new administration is trying to speed that process considerably.
This could create an interesting conflict with federal judges. They may not like or accept the government slowing down the docket, especially with pending criminal cases (which by the Constitution and statute must be conducted in a "speedy" manner). And they are suspicious of government changing positions in pending litigation when the presidential administration changes. This is a vestige of the view that courts do "law" and law is above the politics of who is in the presidency. Many scholars consider that view naive, but judges take it seriously.
Update: This from Prof. Steve Vladeck (recommend subscribing to his Substack--he does great stuff on Fed Courts and Civil Rights. We will discuss a bit about the 8th Amendment piece in class on Monday.
