civil rights

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DOJ Moves to Drop Charges in Breonna Taylor Case

Two officers accused of falsifying warrant may be in the clear

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors now want out of a key piece of the Breonna Taylor case. The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss all charges against former Louisville police officers Kyle Meany and Joshua Jaynes, who helped prepare the warrant used in the 2020 raid that ended with...

Justice Department Sues Harvard Over Antisemitism

Administration wants to claw back 'billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies'

(Newser) - Harvard is once again in the Trump administration's crosshairs , this time over accusations it failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students and staff. The administration on Friday filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court in Boston, claiming the university ignored antisemitic harassment and discrimination in the wake of Hamas' Oct....

City Is Washington's First to Protect Polyamorous Families

Measure in Olympia adds anti-discrimination shield for diverse family structures

(Newser) - Olympia just quietly stepped into new legal territory in Washington. The state capital has become the first in the state to explicitly bar discrimination against people in polyamorous and other nontraditional family arrangements, adding "diverse family and relationship structures" to its anti-bias and housing rules in a unanimous City...

After Don Lemon Arrest, an Indictment for 30 More

AG Bondi accuses protesters of attacking house of worship after January protest at St. Paul church

(Newser) - Attorney General Pam Bondi announced federal charges on Friday against 30 more people who are accused of civil rights violations in a January protest inside a Minnesota church where a pastor works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Bondi said on social media that 25 people were in custody and more...

Feds Accuse UCLA of Ignoring 'Grossly Antisemitic Acts'

Lawsuit seeks damages for 'aggrieved Jewish and Israeli UCLA employees'

(Newser) - The Justice Department has taken its clash with the University of California, Los Angeles, to court. In an 81-page lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, the Trump administration accuses UCLA of allowing widespread antisemitism that violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli employees, alleging the university...

Judge Blocks California's Mask Ban for Federal Agents

But ruling leaves state's ID requirement for law enforcement in place, for now

(Newser) - California's attempt to unmask federal agents just ran into a constitutional snag, though not a complete stop. A federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday blocked the state's new ban on face coverings for federal law-enforcement officers, ruling that the law illegally singled them out by exempting state...

Lawsuit: LA Schools Discriminate Against White Students

Conservative group challenges decades-old desegregation remedies in federal court

(Newser) - A long-running effort to steer extra resources to heavily nonwhite schools in Los Angeles is now at the center of a federal lawsuit claiming it illegally shortchanges white students. The 1776 Project Foundation, a conservative group that opposes racial preferences in education, sued the Los Angeles Unified School District on...

Trump Team Nixes Slavery, Suffrage Anniversary Quarters

Instead, coins for America's 250th birthday to show Founding Fathers, may also include $1 Trump coin

(Newser) - A planned set of quarters marking America's 250th birthday will look different than originally envisioned. An earlier proposal to spotlight the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and the Civil Rights Movement has been shelved by the Trump administration in favor of designs centered on the Mayflower Compact, the...

Judge to ICE: No Warrantless Arrests in DC Without Proof

ACLU lawsuit claims agency stopped people indiscriminately in immigrant neighborhoods

(Newser) - A federal judge has halted the Trump administration's practice of making immigration arrests in Washington, DC, without a warrant or clear proof that a person is likely to flee. The preliminary injunction, issued by US District Judge Beryl Howell, was granted after a lawsuit filed by the American Civil...

'Sacred' Site for Emmett Till to Open, Thanks to a Big Name

Shonda Rhimes donates $1.5M to help turn Miss. barn where teen was murdered in 1955 into a tribute

(Newser) - The barn in Mississippi where 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and killed will open to the public as a "sacred" memorial site by 2030, the new owner announced. The Emmett Till Interpretive Center disclosed late Sunday that it had purchased the barn located in a rural area outside the...

Jesse Jackson Hospitalized for Rare Brain Disease
Jesse Jackson Discharged
From Hospital
UPDATED
Nov 26, 2025 3:00 AM CST

Jesse Jackson Discharged From Hospital

Civil rights leader has round-the-clock care at home

(Newser) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson was on Monday released from the Chicago hospital where he was treated for a rare neurological disorder, his son announced Tuesday. The 84-year-old civil rights leader suffers from a neurodegenerative disorder and receives round-the-clock care at home, the AP reports. His son thanked "the countless...

Only Soldier Charged in Bloody Sunday Murders Is Acquitted

Judge cites lack of evidence in high-profile civil rights case regarding 'Soldier F'

(Newser) - An ex-British paratrooper known only as "Soldier F" has been acquitted in Belfast Crown Court of two murders and five attempted murders related to the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry. Soldier F was accused of killing James Wray and William McKinney and attempting to kill five others during...

He Was the First Congressman Assassinated. Few Remember

James Hinds championed Black rights after the Civil War, as Longreads explains

(Newser) - On a lonely Arkansas road in 1868, Congressman James M. Hinds was assassinated for championing Reconstruction and Black civil rights—yet his name has been all but erased from American memory. A story at Longreads examines how the first congressman ever assassinated while in office—a man once called...

Black Student Found Hanging Took His Own Life: Autopsy

Black student's body was found hanging from tree at Mississippi's Delta State University

(Newser) - Trey Reed took his own life on the campus of Mississippi's Delta State University, Cleveland Chief of Police Travis Tribble now says, after the 21-year-old Black student's body was found hanging from a tree there on Monday, report the Mississippi Free Press and the AP . A statement announcing...

After 13 Years, Feds End Oversight of Seattle PD

City's police department is 'a different department' than it used to be

(Newser) - A federal judge has ended more than a decade of Justice Department oversight of the Seattle Police Department, marking the conclusion of a long-running consent decree that began after findings of excessive force and racial bias within the department. The 13-year oversight, ordered in 2012 following the fatal shooting...

No Apology Forthcoming From George Mason President

Attorney disputes Education Department's findings and resists calls for public admission of wrongdoing

(Newser) - George Mason University's president is refusing to issue an apology demanded by the US Education Department after a federal investigation concluded the school violated civil rights law , according to a letter obtained by NBC News . The Virginia school's president, Gregory Washington, and its Board of Visitors are...

Feds: George Mason Breached Civil Rights in Hiring

Department demands policy overhaul, apology from university president over DEI practices

(Newser) - The Department of Education has determined that George Mason University violated federal civil-rights law by factoring race into hiring and promotion decisions, according to an announcement on Friday. The department's Office of Civil Rights concluded that the university's practices breached Title VI, which bars discrimination based on...

Harvard Braces for Staggering Payout in US Fight

New York Times reports the university is poised to settle with feds for $500M

(Newser) - Columbia paid a $200 million fine —so how much might Harvard have to shell out to settle its fight with the Trump administration? The New York Times is the first to put a number on it, and it's a big one: $500 million. The newspaper reports that the...

Nationwide Protests Honor John Lewis, Target Trump

Demonstrators on Thursday will push for voting rights, social programs, civil liberties

(Newser) - Ample crowds are expected to gather across the US for "Good Trouble Lives On" protests on Thursday, marking five years since the death of civil rights icon John Lewis. Organizers expect crowds in more than 1,500 locations nationwide, with participants gathering to honor Lewis' legacy and to...

They're 'Using the Civil Rights Division Against Civil Rights'

Lawyers flee DOJ office as it shifts focus to 'woke ideology,' anti-Christian bias

(Newser) - Half of the lawyers employed by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division have left their jobs in recent weeks as a new director brings the office in line with President Trump's agenda, the Washington Post reports. Harmeet Dhillon, a California lawyer who represented Trump in challenging the 2020...

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