Summary  1

Recommendations  10

Methodology  13

Background  14

The Origins of Federal Civil Rights Enforcement in the United States  14

2025 Executive Orders  19

Disparate Impact  20

The Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard Case  22

Creating an Environment for Discrimination  24

DISMANTLED: The Systematic Destruction of Federal Civil Rights Law Enforcement Agencies  27

This Time Was Different  27

The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division  29

The Department of Housing and Urban Development  36

The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights  39

The Patterns Across Agencies  43

ABANDONED: The Harm to People Whose Protections Were Withdrawn  50

Voting  53

Houston County, Georgia  53

Texas Redistricting  54

Turtle Mountain and the Importance of Private Actions  55

Abandonment in Other Cases  57

Policing  59

Louisville, Kentucky  59

Minneapolis, Minnesota  61

Policing In Other Jurisdictions  62

Education  64

Cottonwood-Oak Creek, Arizona  64

Lubbock, Texas  65

Rapid City, South Dakota  67

Springfield, Massachusetts; Carteret County, North Carolina; and Other Jurisdictions  68

Housing  71

Environmental Justice and Housing Cases  71

LGBT Fair Housing  73

The Ongoing Harms  74

Agreements Withdrawn, Monitoring Stopped  74

Collapse of Trust  75

STRANDED: The Federal Role is Irreplaceable  78

The Federal Agencies Enjoyed Unique Advantages  78

Exclusive Statutory Authority  78

Resources and Subpoena Power  80

Institutional Credibility  80

Federal Funding Leverage  82

States Cannot Fill the Federal Vacuum  83

Statutory and Institutional Gaps  83

Local Efforts Are Also Insufficient Substitutes  84

The Private Bar and Nonprofit Sector Cannot Fill the Gap  85

The Fair Housing Initiatives Program is Being Defunded  85

Law Firms Are Being Pressured Out of Pro Bono Civil Rights Work  85

Private Litigation Is Unaffordable  87

TARGETED: The Infrastructure Turned Against the People It Was Meant to Protect  90

The Reorientation of Civil Rights Enforcement  90

Voting: The Justice Department Switches Sides  92

Schools: Civil Rights Acts Turned Against Integration  93

Programs Designed to Remedy Discrimination, Recast as Discrimination  93

The Title IX Special Investigations Team  95

Plaquemines Parish: Desegregation Reframed as "Historical Wrong"  96

Employment: Changes at the EEOC  98

Housing: Deprioritizing Race, Gender, and LGBT Claims  100

Harmful Regulations  101

Executive Order 14281 Against Disparate Impact  101

The False Claims Act as a Weapon  103

International Human Rights Law  107

Acknowledgments  112