A group of seven Democratic senators are questioning the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its shake-up to its Civil Rights Division, including policy changes and new staff arrangements.
The senators, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter on Friday to DOJ officials requesting information about the department’s Civil Rights Division.
“According to public reporting, at least five of the Division’s sections have received directives via email to employees which change long-standing Division enforcement objectives,” the senators wrote.
“The five sections are meant to protect voting rights, prevent discrimination by federal funding recipients, investigate illegal bias in housing, prohibit discrimination in education, and defend the rights of those with disabilities.”
The letter was signed by Democrats Sens. Peter Welch (Vt.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Cory Booker (N.J.), Alex Padilla (Calif.) and Adam Schiff (Calif.).
Their letter comes after the Trump administration changed staff and undertook several policy changes at the Civil Rights Division. Roughly a dozen career leaders were removed from their positions, some pushed into unrelated roles with many resigning and leaving some areas without leadership.
The shake-up comes just weeks after Harmeet Dhillon, President Trump’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, was sworn in.
The senators note in their letter that the changes at the division may be inconsistent with Congress’s goals when enacting landmark civil rights legislation.
The lawmakers also sounded the alarm over the lack of established officials in leadership at the division, noting the staff changes “mirror a similar pattern” across the DOJ.
“The Division relies on the abilities and knowledge of its career staff to carry out the great responsibility of enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws without regard to politics,” they wrote.
The senators noted that division employees were reportedly given a second voluntary buyout opportunity, which “appear to be an attempt to cajole career officials” to leave the DOJ so its work can be changed.
The lawmakers requested that the DOJ officials schedule a briefing with the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution to discuss the changes in the coming days.
Separately, the Democrats called on Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), the chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, to hold an oversight hearing with Dhillon on the matter.
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