Trump DOJ Will Move To Block Chicago Police Reform, Jeff Sessions Says

WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration will attempt to block an agreement between the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois to reform the long-troubled Chicago Police Department, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday.

The Justice Department has backed away from police reform in various contexts, but this will be the first time it’s actively attempted to intervene to prevent reform from moving forward. The unusual federal intervention on a negotiated agreement between state and city officials will likely draw a strong rebuke from both parties.

The Justice Department’s 2017 Chicago police investigation ― the largest ever federal probe of a city’s police force ― found that “broad, fundamental reform” was needed in Chicago. The report, issued by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and released near the end of Barack Obama’s presidency, said that only independent monitoring could bring about reform.

After the Trump administration made clear it wasn’t interested in negotiating any agreements to reform police departments, Illinois’ attorney general got involved. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced an agreement last month.

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