Latest news with #CivilDivision
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Donald Trump is creating a ‘civil rights' initiative to target DEI programs in the private sector
Good morning! The Trump administration took aim earlier this year at diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the private sector. And last week, it took another step towards creating a way to crack down on federal contractors with DEI programs. On May 19, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the establishment of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which will use the False Claims Act to 'investigate and, as appropriate, pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.' The initiative will be co-led by the DOJ's Civil Division's Fraud Section and the Civil Rights Division, and each group will be tasked with identifying a team of attorneys to 'aggressively pursue this work.' 'America has watched a tidal wave of anti-Semitism sweep our universities and seen public institutions codify inherently divisive policies like DEI at an unprecedented rate,' Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a statement. 'The days of using federal funds to further discrimination are over.' Traditionally, the False Claims Act is used to combat fraud, such as the misuse of federal funds in billing, procurement, or administration, according to Kate Driscoll, a lawyer and partner at Morrison Foerster's investigations and white collar defense practice group, who previously served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. For example, if a manufacturing company said they would provide a certain number of products to the government and underdelivers, or a health care provider bills Medicare for services it never provided. Using the law as a way to target companies over their DEI programs, according to Driscoll, is unprecedented. 'This really is a novel extension of the False Claims Act to address an enforcement priority for this new administration, and address what it views as unlawful DEI,' says Driscoll. 'The DOJ bases investigations on a preponderance of evidence, so these claims are easy to prove and the damages are tremendous.' Trump's missives from earlier this year, as well as a May memorandum, make it clear that the DOJ is looking for the public's help in calling out institutions over their DEI practices. Any individual with knowledge of discrimination by federal funding recipients are 'strongly encouraged' by the department to file whistleblower claims against an organization for their DEI programs. These individuals are even financially incentivized to do so. Penalties for violating the False Claims Act include both civil penalties and potential for damages of up to three times the government's losses. The DOJ says it obtained close to $3 billion in settlements and judgments from general claims during the 2024 fiscal year. Whistleblowers can receive up to 30% of what the government recovers. It's important to note, however, that the Trump administration is targeting 'illegal' DEI programs, which would have already been a liability long before any presidential missives. And many companies have spent the fast few months making sure their DEI initiatives are airtight. But companies that receive federal funds will have to figure out in advance how they may handle a DEI 'fraud' claim, should it arise, says Vanessa Matsis-McCready, associate general counsel and vice president of human resources for Engage PEO, an HR outsourcing platform. 'Best practice is to routinely evaluate corporate programs to ensure they are not disparately impacting any particular groups, and that they are applied consistently in a business neutral manner,' she says. 'It is also recommended that employers reiterate reporting procedures, review all complaints or concerns that are raised and investigate further when appropriate.' Brit This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Justice Department unit for drug and food safety cases being disbanded
By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Justice Department unit that handles criminal and civil enforcement of U.S. food and drug safety laws is being disbanded as part of an ongoing cost-cutting campaign by President Donald Trump's administration, according to three people familiar with the matter. About 215 people work for the Consumer Protection Branch, part of the Justice Department's Civil Division, including attorneys, support staff and law enforcement agents. It was listed as a possible target for cuts in a March memo by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, first reported by Reuters. A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Although it is located in the Civil Division, the Consumer Protection Branch is an unusual office because its work involves a hybrid of criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement. It handles criminal cases to enforce the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a federal law that makes it a crime to sell or distribute adulterated or misbranded food or drugs. It also enforces statutes for the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The three sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the plans for disbanding the Consumer Protection Branch. Two of the sources said that the more than 100 attorneys who work in the unit were notified on Thursday about the plans to break it up. Attorneys from the unit who handle criminal cases will be relocated to the department's Criminal Division while the rest of the unit's employees will remain in the Civil Division, the three sources said. Some who do primarily legal defense work for the Food and Drug Administration will be transferred to the Justice Department's federal programs branch, they said. It remains unclear where others will be placed, according to two of the sources. The target date to complete the changes is by the end of the current fiscal year, which is September 30, one of the sources said. The plans to disband the branch were reported earlier by the American Prospect news outlet. The Consumer Protection Branch has been at the heart of some high-profile cases. Walgreens this week reached a settlement with the Justice department in a case involving the branch and agreed to pay $350 million for illegally filling unlawful opioid prescriptions and filing false claims to the government. Prosecutors from the branch also brought the criminal case against former executives at Peanut Corporation for crimes that led to a 2009 outbreak involving more than 700 cases of salmonella poisoning.
Reuters
25-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US Justice Department unit for drug and food safety cases being disbanded
WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - A Justice Department unit that handles criminal and civil enforcement of U.S. food and drug safety laws is being disbanded as part of an ongoing cost-cutting campaign by President Donald Trump 's administration, according to three people familiar with the matter. About 215 people work for the Consumer Protection Branch, part of the Justice Department's Civil Division, including attorneys, support staff and law enforcement agents. It was listed as a possible target for cuts in a March memo by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, first reported by Reuters. here. A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Although it is located in the Civil Division, the Consumer Protection Branch is an unusual office because its work involves a hybrid of criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement. It handles criminal cases to enforce the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a federal law that makes it a crime to sell or distribute adulterated or misbranded food or drugs. It also enforces statutes for the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The three sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the plans for disbanding the Consumer Protection Branch. Two of the sources said that the more than 100 attorneys who work in the unit were notified on Thursday about the plans to break it up. Attorneys from the unit who handle criminal cases will be relocated to the department's Criminal Division while the rest of the unit's employees will remain in the Civil Division, the three sources said. Some who do primarily legal defense work for the Food and Drug Administration will be transferred to the Justice Department's federal programs branch, they said. It remains unclear where others will be placed, according to two of the sources. The target date to complete the changes is by the end of the current fiscal year, which is September 30, one of the sources said. The plans to disband the branch were reported earlier by the American Prospect news outlet. The Consumer Protection Branch has been at the heart of some high-profile cases. Walgreens this week reached a settlement with the Justice department in a case involving the branch and agreed to pay $350 million for illegally filling unlawful opioid prescriptions and filing false claims to the government. Prosecutors from the branch also brought the criminal case against former executives at Peanut Corporation for crimes that led to a 2009 outbreak involving more than 700 cases of salmonella poisoning.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal memo leaked in court filing admits weak legal strategy in NYC congestion pricing case
The Brief Federal prosecutors accidentally filed an internal memo stating their legal arguments against New York City's congestion pricing program are "very unlikely" to succeed. The Department of Transportation has removed the Southern District of New York from the case, transferring it to the Justice Department's Civil Division in Washington. Governor Hochul and MTA officials have reaffirmed the program's legality, saying the tolling system will remain in place and continue operating. NEW YORK - An internal memo filed in court by mistake is causing embarrassment for the federal legal team trying to dismantle New York City's congestion pricing program. The document, meant for internal review only, admits the government's case is "very unlikely" to succeed. What we know Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York accidentally filed an internal memo intended for the U.S. Department of Transportation. The 11-page document, now public, acknowledges that Secretary Sean Duffy's legal arguments against NYC's congestion pricing program are not strong and pose a "considerable litigation risk." RELATED: Feds issue new deadline for New York to shut down congestion pricing gantries Specifically, the memo admits that the argument claiming congestion pricing violates federal law—because it does not offer a toll-free alternative—would likely be rejected by both the judge and higher courts. The Department of Transportation has since removed the Southern District from the case, transferring oversight to the Civil Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Local perspective Governor Kathy Hochul responded to the news by reaffirming the legality and effectiveness of congestion pricing. "Congestion pricing is legal, it's working, and the cameras are staying on," she said. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber did not directly comment on the memo during a radio interview but stated: "We have always been absolutely confident that congestion pricing could not be taken down unilaterally by the federal government." What's next The case will now move forward under the Civil Division of the DOJ. The Source This story was written using information from FOX 5 NY staff and crews in the field.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
DOJ will investigate doctors who provide trans care to minors, attorney general says
Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo this week seeking to further curtail access to transgender health care for minors. In the memo, Bondi said the Justice Department will use a variety of existing U.S. laws to investigate providers of such care, as well as drug manufacturers and distributors. She directed U.S. attorneys to use laws against female genital mutilation to investigate doctors who 'mutilate' children 'under the guise of care' and to prosecute these 'offenses to the fullest extent possible.' 'I am putting medical practitioners, hospitals, and clinics on notice: In the United States, it is a felony to perform, attempt to perform, or conspire to perform female genital mutilation ('FGM') on any person under the age of 18,' Bondi wrote. 'That crime carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years per count.' Bondi also directed the Consumer Protection Branch of the DOJ's Civil Division to investigate potential violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by drug manufacturers and distributors who engage "in misbranding by making false claims about the on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones, or any other drug used to facilitate' a minor's gender transition. And she directed the Civil Division's Fraud Section to investigate potential violations of the False Claims Act by physicians who submit 'false claims … to federal health care programs for any non-covered services related to radical gender experimentation.' (She included as an example of this a physician prescribing puberty blockers to a minor for gender-transition care but reporting it to Medicaid as being for early-onset puberty.) Robin Maril, an assistant professor of constitutional law at Oregon's Willamette University, said Bondi's memo doesn't change any existing laws. Doctors, she said, will not be breaking the law by continuing to treat trans minors if they live in a state where such care is still legal. She also noted that Medicaid fraud and defrauding the government are already crimes. 'The bulk of this is just showing how they're going to use resources and investigate,' Maril said. 'That's not a law change. It's meant to have a chilling effect on physicians providing access to necessary care, fearing that it will be characterized as chemical and surgical mutilation of children.' She added that the memo's call on whistleblowers to report 'knowledge of any such violations' could further make doctors afraid of being reported. It's unclear what type of procedure would be considered female genital mutilation 'under the guise of care' according to Bondi's interpretation of U.S. law. The FBI defines it as 'partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.' Transition-related care for minors can encompass a range of treatments, including talk therapy for younger children, puberty-blocking medications for adolescents and hormone therapy for older teens. Bondi's memo specifically mentions gender-affirming surgeries, which are not recommended for minors. In rare cases, older teens can receive a double mastectomy, or removal of the breasts. It's also unclear if Bondi's directives would conflict with federal and state anti-discrimination laws. A provision in the Affordable Care Act, for example, prohibits physicians who are providing federally funded services from discriminating based on sex. The Biden administration issued a notice interpreting that provision to include protection based on gender identity, but the Trump administration rescinded that notice in February. Some advocates argue the provision's protections and some state nondiscrimination laws still apply. Since the 1980s, medical providers have prescribed puberty blockers, which temporarily stop puberty, to children who start puberty too early, according to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and they've used them off label to treat trans adolescents since the 1990s. Major medical associations in the U.S., such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, support access to transition-related care for minors and oppose restrictions on it. Despite this, Bondi's memo refers to this type of care as 'radical gender experimentation,' and it cites research conducted by an advocacy group that opposes gender-affirming care for minors. That group found that, from 2019 to 2023, 14,000 children received treatment for gender dysphoria — the medical term for the distress caused by the misalignment between one's gender identity and sex assigned at birth — and 5,700 had surgery. However, trans advocates have noted that the rate of breast surgeries among adolescents who are cisgender, meaning not transgender, is much higher. For example, in 2011, more than 14,000 breast reduction procedures were performed in the United States on adolescent boys to correct gynecomastia, a benign condition that causes enlarged breast tissue, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Bondi's memo is the administration's latest attempt at restricting trans health care. Just over a week after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order aimed at curtailing transition-related care for minors by prohibiting federal funding for such care and threatening to withhold grants from hospitals and medical universities that provide the care, among other restrictions. At least two judges have temporarily blocked that order from taking effect. Over the last few years, 27 states have enacted measures restricting access to transition-related care for minors. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision soon in a lawsuit against such a restriction in Tennessee, which could affect minors' access to care nationwide and potentially care for trans adults under federally funded health programs. This article was originally published on
