MINNEAPOLIS (AP) 鈥 The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation of the prosecutor鈥檚 office in Minnesota鈥檚 most populous county after its leader directed her staff to consider racial disparities as one factor when negotiating plea deals.
Harmeet Dhillon, a who’s the of the agency’s Civil Rights Division, announced the investigation in a Saturday night.
Dhillon posted a letter from to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, dated Friday. It said the investigation would focus on whether Moriarty’s office 鈥渆ngages in the illegal consideration of race in its prosecutorial decision-making.鈥
The letter, released to The Associated Press by the Justice Department on Monday, said the investigation was triggered by a new policy adopted by the county attorney that has come under conservative fire in recent weeks.
That policy, which was leaked to local media last month, says racial disparities harm the community, so prosecutors should consider the 鈥渨hole person, including their racial identity and age,鈥 as part of their overall analysis.
Moriarty’s office got the Justice Department letter via email on Monday, the county attorney’s spokesperson, Daniel Borgertpoepping, said in a statement.
鈥淥ur office will cooperate with any resulting investigation and we鈥檙e fully confident our policy complies with the law,鈥 he said.
Moriarty, a former public defender, was elected in 2022 as the Minneapolis area and the country were still reeling from the a Black man, under the knee of a white officer. She promised and change the culture of a prosecutors’ office that she believed had long overemphasized punishment without addressing the root causes of crime.
The federal inquiry will be a 鈥減attern or practice鈥 investigation, Bondi’s letter said. That’s the same kind of probe that the Justice Department conducted of the Minneapolis Police Department following the murder of Floyd nearly five years ago.
That process led to an between the Biden administration’s Justice Department and the city on a consent decree to mandate changes to the police department’s training and use-of-force policies that are meant to reduce racial disparities in policing. However, the agreement still requires approval by a federal judge.
After taking office later in January, President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration froze litigation and the Minneapolis agreement and a
Trump took a step further last month when he directing the attorney general to review all ongoing with law enforcement agencies and 鈥渕odify, rescind, or move to conclude such measures that unduly impede the performance of law enforcement functions.鈥
The Justice Department had already asked the court to pause its decision on the Minneapolis agreement while Dhillon reviews the matter. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson has given the agency until May 21. is similarly on hold.
