Democracy Forward’s Red Line for Civil Rights Releases New Resources Tracking Troubling Trends and Identifying Dozens of Key Cases
October 24, 2026 - Washington, D.C. – Red Line for Civil Rights, an oversight and accountability project of Democracy 
Forward, on Thursday released two important resources to help people understand a disconcerting withdrawal of U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in cases. The pair of resources released today include “Walking Away: DOJ’s Abandonment of Civil Rights Cases for People of Color,” as well as “Filling in The Gaps: Tracking The 50+ School Desegregation Cases DOJ Says it Is Ending,” and feature insight and analysis of more than 85 cases that DOJ’s Civil Rights Division (CRT) has shut down, withdrawn from, or sought to end.
“People and communities rely on DOJ to pursue vital cases to address threats to civil rights under our nation’s laws. The Red Line for Civil Rights reports don’t just highlight the cases that have been abandoned, but also make clear the harm that DOJ’s abandonment of its mission retreat has caused,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “On the other side of our present crisis must be the will to create bold change. Red Line for Civil Rights’ careful monitoring and analysis is helping to lay the foundation for this imperative change.”
According to Red Line for Civil Rights’ reporting, since January 20, 2025, DOJ’s CRT has shut down, withdrawn from, or sought to end more than 36 cases that addressed discrimination against Black, Latino, and Native American people. These include challenges to police and firefighter hiring tests, police investigations that found discrimination against Black and Native American residents, redlining settlements with banks, decades-old school desegregation cases, and Voting Rights Act lawsuits. These cases were not closed in the normal course. In some of these cases, courts have refused to let DOJ walk away.
In a parallel report looking specifically at school desegregation cases, Red Line for Civil Rights called attention to a September 24, 2026 announcement from DOJ’s CRT that the division had dismissed more than 50 school desegregation cases. Though DOJ reportedly shared its full list of over 50 closed cases with journalists, it did not publish that list, explain whether the school districts had fully complied with the court orders to end unlawful segregation, or say whether a judge approved each dismissal. In response to DOJ’s secrecy, Red Line for Civil Rights uncovered details about the cases, including those in 56 school districts where DOJ has sought to withdraw, end, or did not oppose ending desegregation cases. In 18 of the cases, Red Line for Civil Rights found DOJ sought to end court supervision without asking the court to find that the district had eliminated the vestiges of past discrimination to the extent practicable.
“The shameful withdrawal of DOJ resources from these cases and investigations highlights how this administration is abandoning communities across the country,” said Megan Marks, former Deputy Chief of the Special Litigation Section of DOJ’s CRT and Deputy Director and Managing Editor of Red Line for Civil Rights. “Walking away from them doesn’t mean the discrimination has been addressed. It just means DOJ is no longer watching.”
“This administration’s politicized approach to civil rights enforcement imposes real costs on individuals and entire communities, eroding protections that underpin equal treatment and the rule of law for all,” said Regan Rush, former Chief of the Special Litigation Section of DOJ’s CRT and Director and Editor-in-Chief of Red Line for Civil Rights.
For decades, DOJ’s CRT operated as an independent, non-political guardian of civil rights, regardless of who was in the White House. That changed under the Trump-Vance administration. Since January 20, 2025, the division has shut down meritorious civil rights cases involving egregious harm, retreated from enforcement on behalf of historically marginalized communities, and redirected enforcement of civil rights statutes toward political and ideological ends. The administration has also driven out hundreds of career CRT attorneys and staff, significantly reducing staffing levels and eroding the expertise and continuity required for credible, even-handed enforcement of civil rights laws. Taken together, these actions reflect a fundamental shift in federal civil rights enforcement, with profound consequences for people across the country.
“DOJ’s haste to end these cases without deliberation or transparency is a betrayal of Black students who continue to face segregation and inequality in our schools,” said Shaheena Simons, Senior Advisor, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who as former Chief of the Educational Opportunities Section of CRT oversaw DOJ’s desegregation docket. “This retreat is part of a much bigger picture. Not only has the Civil Rights Division abandoned its work to protect the rights of our most marginalized students, but it is also weaponizing civil rights statutes against them.”
“President Trump’s politicized Department of Justice (DOJ) is turning its back on workers and students by abandoning entire categories of discrimination cases and ending the fight against school desegregation altogether,” said Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, the Ranking Member on the Education and Workforce Committee. “Democrats on the Committee on Education and Workforce are committed to the protection of civil rights and to guaranteeing that all Americans are protected from discrimination in accordance with the civil rights laws that so many Americans fought to secure.”
“Democracy Forward’s reports expose the Justice Department’s shocking betrayal of its central duty to protect Americans against race discrimination,” said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee. “While DOJ devotes its resources to persecuting Trump’s political enemies, it has dropped protection of voting rights and is allowing discrimination to proliferate by abandoning school desegregation and job discrimination cases. We need a Department of Justice that stands by the rule of law and the rights of all Americans. But this Administration carries out presidential vendettas, covers up child sex trafficking, promotes corruption and pardons and coddles violent felons in the President’s private militia.”
Red Line for Civil Rights, a project powered by Democracy Forward, is led by Rush and Marks, both former career leaders of DOJ CRT.
Learn more at www.redlinecivilrights.org.
Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
Source: Democracy Forward Foundation
