Louisville consent decree runs into another delay. Where things stand
- The U.S. Department of Justice requested, for a second time, a 30-day extension to file materials related to the consent decree, which would guide police reform.
- The extension, which was approved Thursday by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton, pushes the deadline to April 21.
- Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg will implement the decree locally, if it's not approved.
This story has been updated to include a comment from Metro Government.
When Louisville Metro Government, along with its police department, announced its new consent decree in December alongside the U.S. Department of Justice, the next step was to begin implementing the plan.
Instead, after months of negotiations to create the decree and another three months after its announcement, the decree still has yet to receive approval from a federal judge.
This week, the DOJ requested, for a second time, a 30-day extension to file materials related to the consent decree, which would guide the city's police reform.
Metro Government press secretary Kevin Trager said the city did not request the extension.
“We are prepared to move forward and finalize the federal consent decree with the United States Department of Justice," Trager said. "If this decree, ultimately, is not approved, Mayor Greenberg has pledged to implement the decree locally with an independent monitor and a method for community feedback.”
The DOJ and Metro Government are compiling additional information for U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton after he requested it, saying he would not be "a rubber stamp" for the agreement, which would bind LMPD to reforms for years.
"The United States is continuing to consider the questions that the Court directed the Parties to answer," the DOJ wrote in a motion filed Wednesday.
The request for a delay was approved on Thursday morning, according to federal court records. The new response date is April 21.
The Courier Journal requested to speak with Louisville Metro Government about the time extension, but did not immediately receive a response.
This is the DOJ's second request and approval granted for a time extension. The first came in February, also for a month-long extension.
After months of negotiations, Louisville's consent decree sought to address violations found by the DOJ in a wide-ranging 90-page investigation of LMPD. The DOJ released their initial investigation in March 2023.
The agreement must be approved by a federal judge to take effect. The consent decree received a single hearing before President Donald Trump — whose first administration opposed consent decrees as a police reform tool — took office.
The second delay comes after a memo from new DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle was released in January ordering the department's Civil Rights Division to "not execute or finalize any settlements or consent decrees approved" before Trump took office and stating that "the new administration may wish to reconsider settlements and consent decrees negotiated and approved by the prior administration."
Staff writer Josh Wood contributed to this report.
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter. Reach her at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @JWoodJourno