The U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump says it will drop a lawsuit seeking to mandate reform of the Louisville Metro Police Department.
City leaders and DOJ attorneys signed a proposed consent decree late last year. If approved, it would have made a federal judge responsible for overseeing dozens of changes to police practices and policies. The agreement, hashed out in the waning days of former President Joe Biden’s administration, laid out a reform plan that would have lasted up to five years.
On Wednesday, the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and the consent decree in federal district court. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey held a press conference hours later, promising to implement the agreed-upon reforms without federal oversight.
“We are moving ahead rapidly to continue implementing police reform that ensures constitutional policing while providing transparency and accountability to the public,” Greenberg said. “I made a promise to our community, and we are keeping that promise.”
While Greenberg said the city is still committed to change, court records show Louisville Metro Government did not oppose the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss.
That could strengthen the DOJ’s case for dropping the lawsuit. In their motion, Justice Department attorneys also honed in on previous comments from the mayor and police chief.
“Louisville has informed the United States that if the Court grants the United States’ motion, it intends to implement substantially all of the changes…” they wrote. “Micromanagement by an independent monitor, the Department of Justice, or a federal court is no longer necessary.”
Greenberg and other top officials have committed to implementing a consent decree locally in recent months, while the future of the federal agreement was in question. The mayor said Wednesday that the city chose not to oppose the DOJ’s motion because “the writing was on the wall.”
The DOJ’s lawsuit and the resulting consent decree agreement were the culmination of years of investigation, protest and calls for accountability following the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor. In March 2023, federal officials released a scathing report, alleging a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing and racial bias within LMPD.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, a former Trump legal advisor and frequent Fox News guest, backed off of that assessment in a press release Wednesday.
“Today, we are ending the Biden Civil Rights Division’s failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders and police departments with factually unjustified consent decrees,” Dhillon said.
The DOJ also argued the report wrongly equates “statistical disparities with intentional discrimination” and relies on a “flawed methodology.” The attorneys told a federal judge the department no longer stands by the accusations.
Greenberg, meanwhile, said his administration accepts the results of the initial investigation and is more interested in moving forward. He sidestepped a question about whether he believed the Trump administration’s decision was politically motivated, saying they could speak for themselves.
During their press conference, Greenberg and Humphrey announced what they’re calling Community Commitment, a local version of the consent decree. They said it includes every reform the city had already agreed to.
Humphrey said the community commitment envisions a five-year implementation plan, just like the consent decree did, but he said improving policing and the department’s relationship with the community would always be ongoing.
“There is no finish line,” Humphrey said. “There is no moment where we will sit back, give each other a pat on the back, and say, ‘You did it’. We will always strive to be better and we expect that the community will hold us accountable to it, and we will hold ourselves accountable to it.”
Louisville leaders also explained their plans for hiring an independent person or organization to oversee the city’s implementation of the community commitment. Under the consent decree, the city was expected to set aside $1.4 million per year for monitoring services. In his proposed budget for 2026, Greenberg is calling to spend just half that on monitoring for his local reform plan.
A Community Safety Commission — made up of representatives from the criminal justice system, nonprofits and advocacy groups — will provide feedback on the reforms. Greenberg said he will decide which individuals or organizations will be on the board.
The DOJ is also moving to drop a proposed consent decree in Minneapolis, where there is already “a court-enforceable consent decree with the state government,” according to the Washington Post. The federal agreement in Minneapolis came after the high-profile police killing of George Floyd in May 2020.
The Trump administration also plans to end six Biden-are civil rights investigations into other police departments, including Louisiana State Police and the Memphis Police Department.
Amina Elahi and Ryan Van Velzer contributed to this story.
