KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The U.S. Department of Justice recently closed two separate investigations into Kansas City, Missouri’s police and fire departments the same week Trump issued an executive order rolling back certain diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
"The executive order definitely has a broader impact than people might realize," said Marcia McCormick, a professor of law at St. Louis University. "To a great extent, this executive order seems to be relying on sort of pressure and encouragement of the private sector to change things or maybe people to bring lawsuits to vindicate the vision of what anti-discrimination law does."
In short, there's a lot going on.
"The volume of information that's being released makes it really hard to keep track of exactly what's happening," McCormick said.
Not even her background in employment and labor law prepared her for this past week’s changes.
"The wholesale dropping of investigations, halting of litigation and reviewing consent decrees to my knowledge has not happened before," McCormick said.
The Kansas City Police Department investigation explored the agency's employment practices.
Kansas City Fire Department's involved a Black firefighter claiming employment discrimination and retaliation.
City officials say both investigations ended in the past week.
KCPD received a letter from the DOJ on Jan. 17, days before president Donald Trump took office.
KCFD got its letter the day after Inauguration Day.
The Associated Press obtained a memo from incoming Justice Department Leaders that put a freeze on civil rights cases.
The timing of this change, coupled with Tuesday's executive order restricting DEI measures, stood out to McCormick.
"I do think there is a connection," McCormick said. "The timing of the, I'm going to call it an 'about-face' that the Department of Justice then engaged in so quickly after the inauguration, so quickly after this executive order was issued make it pretty clear that these plans were fairly solidified well before the inauguration so that they could be rolled out fairly quickly."
The DOJ has not shared whether or not its decision to drop these investigations had anything to do with Trump's executive order.
Still, it’s not something to ignore, McCormick says.
"By the Department of Justice stopping its investigation and doing it all across the country, that means that there's not the same level of a watchdog looking out for systemic discrimination in employment practices, but also policing and really the kinds of discrimination that government entities can engage in," McCormick said. "I think there’s also a real risk to the legitimacy of the Department of Justice itself by stopping everything and changing so fundamentally with its entire agenda."
KSHB 41 talked to McCormick about KCFD’s case in 2023.
She explained that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces anti-discrimination law, while the DOJ is the investigating agency.
"There are also state agencies, and discrimination is prohibited by state law as well," McCormick said. "And the state agencies and the EEOC work closely together."
McCormick says federal anti-discrimination law still stands, for now.
"All those federal statutes cannot be erased by an executive order," McCormick said. "And the other federal agency that enforces anti-discrimination law still exists and can’t be erased by executive order."
She says the judicial branch has the final say.
"The courts are the ones that decide what federal law means," McCormick said. "The president does not have that power. He has the power to interpret it to an extent for the federal government, but ultimately in our system of checks and balances, the courts are the ones who decide what the language and statutes mean, how it applies in individual cases."
In addition to focusing on "ensuring robust systems at the state level," McCormick says it'll be important to keep an eye on what the legislative branch does next.
"We might be concerned about legislation that might be introduced into Congress to repeal laws," McCormick said.
She's encouraging people to engage with their local and state representatives and not be discouraged to speak up for themselves.
"People shouldn’t hesitate to vindicate their rights if they feel they’ve been discriminated against," McCormick said. "And employers need to continue to operate within the anti-discrimination laws that still govern them."
McCormick says she’s expecting the federal government to pick up its pace, but that doesn’t leave agencies off the hook.
"That’s going to continue for a while, the sort of confusion at all these different levels," McCormick said. "Institutions that are committed to the anti-discrimination efforts that they’re engaged in shouldn’t think that they have to stop immediately."
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KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.