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ProPublicaonBluesky1d ago
NEW: Last year we published a story about how Trump’s Department of Education halted thousands of civil rights investigations.
But there is no publicly accessible way to track the status of those cases. We are suing to get info that belongs to the public.
By @charlesornstein.bsky.social
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Accuracy88%
Framing82%
Context70%
Tone85%
Analysis Summary
ProPublica is suing the Department of Education to force release of civil rights investigation data that the agency stopped publishing publicly on January 14, 2025. The Office for Civil Rights froze its tracker of ongoing school discrimination cases just before Trump's inauguration, leaving journalists and the public unable to monitor which civil rights complaints the department is investigating. Multiple sources including the New York Times and Senator Sanders' office confirm the department has shifted focus to antisemitism and transgender sports cases while deprioritizing racial harassment and disability discrimination complaints. The lawsuit is necessary because FOIA requests have gone unanswered for over a year and education department layoffs have particularly gutted civil rights staffing.
Claims Analysis (4)
“Trump's Department of Education halted thousands of civil rights investigations”
ProPublica reported in 2025 that the department cut back investigations into certain discrimination types. NYT confirms slowdown affecting ~20,000 cases. Sanders report documents layoffs hampering civil rights enforcement.
“There is no publicly accessible way to track the status of those cases”
The Office for Civil Rights froze its public investigation tracker on Jan. 14, 2025 — six days before Trump's inauguration. Article documents the freeze directly and journalists confirm loss of access.
“ProPublica is suing to get information that belongs to the public”
ProPublica filed FOIA lawsuit in late February 2026 after department failed to produce records for a year. Education Department asked judge to dismiss the case in April 2026.
“The department has prioritized investigations into antisemitism, transgender athlete participation, and alleged discrimination against white students while deprioritizing other discrimination complaints”
Article states department is 'now focused on' these areas and that transgender complaints were 'fast-tracked while cases of racial harassment of Black students last year were ignored.' This reflects investigative reporting from Cohen and Smith Richards, though the term 'deprioritized' is interpretation.
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