Bianca Austin, center, talked about her reaction to the leaked U.S. Department of Justice memos at a press conference in Louisville City Hall.(Roberto Roldan / LPM News)New leaders in the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump have indicated they’ll reconsider police reform agreements negotiated by the prior administration, putting Louisville’s proposed consent decree in jeopardy.A memo obtained by the Associated Press Wednesday shows attorneys in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division were ordered to not file any new complaints, amicus briefs or other specific types of court papers “until further notice.” That division negotiates consent decrees, like the one Louisville Metro signed last month. Consent decrees are court-mandated roadmaps for policing reform, requiring local departments to make hundreds of changes to training and policies. Negotiations followed a scathing report by the DOJ alleging that the Louisville Metro Police Department routinely used excessive force and discriminated against Black residents.Ayesha Hardaway, a police reform expert and a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University, said the memo shouldn’t come as a surprise. She said it’s similar to directives then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave to DOJ attorneys during the first Trump administration.Hardaway said the memo suggests the proposed consent decree in Louisville may not move forward.“If [the DOJ] is not going to pursue their right and authority under the law as enacted by Congress in 1994, then there’s no plaintiff,” she said. “And without a plaintiff, there can be no agreement.”The DOJ did not respond to LPM News’ request for comment.The Associated Press also reported that a second memo sent to DOJ attorneys by new chief of staff Chad Mizelle said the Trump administration “may wish to reconsider” consent decrees finalized in the waning days of Joe Biden’s presidency. That would include Louisville, as well as Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd sparked global protests and local police reform efforts.Now, many activists and lawmakers in Louisville who have been pushing for police reform are worried about whether the changes local officials agreed to will actually be implemented.An aunt of Breonna Taylor, whose death at the hands of LMPD officers led to the DOJ’s investigation, said at a press conference Thursday she expected the Trump administration to try and halt the process, but “the blow just doesn’t get any softer.” Bianca Austin said the situation now is “fight or flight” for her.“The only thing that we have been crying for is equality and unity,” Austin said.Standing beside Austin were Metro Council Members Shameka Parrish-Wright and J.P. Lyninger, as well as former state Rep. Attica Scott. All are members of The People’s Consent Decree Coalition, an advocacy group that put pressure on city leaders to sign the agreement.Parrish-Wright, a Democrat representing District 3, said that if the DOJ backs out of the proposed consent decree, it would be up to Louisville residents to ensure the city and police department implement the reforms they’ve already acknowledged are needed.“We still want to move forward with every aspect of this,” she said. “The mayor, the [police chief], the administration … have to answer the question: If the federal government, Trump’s administration won’t pursue this, what are you willing to do to make sure Louisville gets the policing it deserves?”In a statement Thursday afternoon, Mayor Craig Greenberg’s Office said “will move forward and honor our commitment to meaningful improvements and reforms.”“Mayor Greenberg and Chief [Paul] Humphrey remain committed to implementing the reforms set forth in the consent decree we signed with the DOJ,” the statement read. “The city is preparing to file a brief in support of the consent decree by February 18th, as requested by the judge.”If the city were to move forward with implementing the reforms without a consent decree, it’s unclear who would track or monitor LMPD's progress. An important aspect of these agreements is the third-party monitor and a judge’s ability to enforce compliance.For some who opposed the consent decree, its potential end was welcome news.The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., recently filed a “friend of the court” brief in the case. The group argued the agreement would prevent police officers from doing their jobs.Mike Howell, head of the foundation’s Oversight Project, said in a statement Thursday that it was “great to see that Trump's Department of Justice is taking action here.”“The last-ditch efforts by the outgoing Biden Administration to cement Black Lives Matter style policing policies in America's most dangerous cities was an affront to a decisive election mandate for law and order,” Howell said.In recent weeks, the River City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 614, the union representing LMPD officers, also asked the federal judge assigned to oversee the case to reject the proposed decree as-is. A spokesperson for FOP did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.This apparent reversal by the DOJ after a change in presidential administrations is not unprecedented. In 2017, Jeff Sessions, then Attorney General, initiated a review of all of the DOJ’s consent decrees.Sessions requested more time to review a proposed consent decree that was already before a federal judge in Baltimore, expressing “grave concerns” about its impact on law enforcement. But in that case, the judge denied the DOJ’s request and entered the agreement anyway.The ACLU of Kentucky, likewise, says there’s no reason the Trump administration can’t review Louisville’s agreement while allowing the process to move forward. Legal director Corey Shapiro said Thursday the DOJ and the city have already agreed to the reforms and the right thing to do would be to continue.“Our amicus brief focused on the idea that the community believes this is an important first step,” he said. “The organizations that signed on to that amicus brief agreed that, particularly around transparency and accountability, those provisions were absolutely vital to making policing better in Louisville.”At a hearing earlier this month to determine if the proposed decree is fair, adequate and reasonable under the law, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Beaton declined to “rubber stamp” the agreement. Instead, he’s asked the city and DOJ to provide more information about LMPD officers’ alleged constitutional violations. The two parties have until Feb. 18 to answer those questions.Beaton was appointed by Trump in 2020.Another option, if the DOJ seeks to end its involvement with the consent decree in Louisville, is for the state government to step in. That’s what happened in Chicago in 2018, during Trump’s first term. The Illinois Attorney General held community meetings and drafted a new consent decree agreement, which was approved in 2019. The Chicago Police Department is still under it today.Hardaway, the police reform expert, said the case in Chicago highlights that strong reform agreements are still possible, even under this presidential administration. She said letting the agreement fall by the wayside now would make Louisville an outlier.“In the first Trump administration, the jurisdictions that were committed to reform — Illinois, as well as Minnesota — moved forward with consent decrees either when the DOJ refused to participate or was moving slowly,” Hardaway said.State Republicans, who hold a supermajority in the General Assembly and control the Attorney General’s Office, have been mostly silent on Louisville’s proposed consent decree.When the city began negotiating the terms of the agreement last February, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman posted on X that “the challenges of the past do not overshadow the present courage LMPD officers bring” to their work.