Jeff Sessions’ DOJ Drops Suit Against North Carolina’s Anti-Transgender Law

What’s Next?

The Dept. of Justice has dropped its lawsuit against North Carolina in response to the state’s claim it has repealed HB2, a sweeping and unconstitutional law targeting transgender people and other minorities. In an agreement filed Thursday, the DOJ notified the U.S. District Court of the dismissal, as Chris Johnson of The Washington Blade reports.

Lawmakers “repealed” HB2 and substituted it with a law that effectively changes little. Transgender people are still banned from using public restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Cities and towns are still banned from enacting nondiscrimination laws, although that ban ends on December 1, 2020, nearly four years from now. Hey are also banned from regulating minimum wage and other employment laws.

Johnson adds that last month the “Justice Department said the U.S. government ‘reviewing its litigation posture‘ in the aftermath of the HB2 replacement,” and notes the move “is consistent with Sessions’ actions against transgender rights since his confirmation as U.S. attorney general.”

Sessions has made clear he is willing to drop legal action against cities and states brought under his predecessor, Attorney General Loretta Lynch. But it gets worse.

Earlier this month Attorney General Sessions signaled he does not believe it is the role of the Dept. of Justice to enforce federal civil rights laws. 

EARLIER: Jeff Sessions Has Some Very Wrong Opinions on Drugs. He Thinks Marijuana Is Like Heroin.

In February, Sessions teamed up with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to rescind Obama-era guidance protecting transgender students and their civil rights.

Sessions, as NCRM reported, earlier this month directed the DOJ to review all Obama-era consent decrees signed with over a dozen local police departments that have patterns of violating civil rights. From Ferguson to Baltimore to Chicago, the Obama Justice Dept. investigated local law enforcement agencies and developed binding agreements to ensure policy, practice, and behavioral reforms are enacted to protect the federal civil rights of the communities these police agencies serve.

“It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies,” Sessions said in a memo.

It is, however, the DOJ’s responsibility to enforce federal civil rights laws. Sessions is making clear he does not intend to do so.

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