On June 11, 2025, the recently confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, Brett Shumate, issued a memorandumdirecting Civil Division lawyers to prioritize investigations and enforcement actions advancing certain specified objectives. The “Civil Division Enforcement Priorities” memorandum identifies five priorities: (1) combatting discriminatory practices and policies, (2) ending antisemitism, (3) protecting women and children, (4) ending “sanctuary” jurisdictions, and (5) prioritizing denaturalization of naturalized U.S. citizens. The memorandum is notable and unusual in multiple respects.
The first priority—combating discrimination—is noteworthy because the Department of Justice’s regulations assign to the Civil Rights Division, not the Civil Division, primary authority for “[e]nforcement of all Federal statutes affecting civil rights.” 28 C.F.R. 0.50(a). It is unusual for the Civil Division to rank civil rights enforcement as its top priority. The memorandum suggests, however, that the contemplated enforcement by the Civil Division will be targeted at what the Administration considers to be “illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”1
Consistent with this focus, the memo commits the Division to “aggressively” furthering the objectives of the Department’s recently announced “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative,” which seeks to use the False Claims Act (FCA) against government contractors and grant recipients who engaged in so-called “illegal DEI.” The memo states that the Division “will aggressively investigate and, as appropriate, pursue False Claims Act violations against recipients of federal funds that knowingly violate civil rights laws.”2 The description of the Division’s intended use of the FCA is brief, but the memo does not appear to limit the envisioned enforcement actions to defendants who have made a “certification” of compliance with civil rights laws in situations where that compliance was “material,” as would be required to establish FCA liability.
The second priority—ending antisemitism—is also notable both because of its focus on federal civil rights laws and because it highlights another area of risk for colleges and universities, which the Administration has criticized for their responses to pro-Palestinian protests, among other things. This section of the memo also references use of the FCA to police civil rights compliance: “To assist these enforcement efforts, the Civil Division will prioritize investigations and enforcement actions against entities that make claims for federal funds but knowingly violate federal civil rights laws by participating in or allowing antisemitism.”3
The third priority confirms that the Civil Division intends to try to advance another Administration objective—investigating the provision of gender-affirming care to transgender individuals. The memorandum indicates that the Division will use the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to investigate “(1) pharmaceutical companies that manufacture drugs used in connection with so-called gender transition and (2) dealers such as online pharmacies suspected of illegally selling such drugs.”4 In addition, the Division “will aggressively pursue claims under the False Claims Act against health care providers that bill the federal government for impermissible services.”5 The proposed uses of the FDCA and the FCA in this area will raise numerous significant issues.
The fourth priority—bringing affirmative preemption lawsuits against jurisdictions that the Administration believes are hindering enforcement of federal immigration law—confirms that the Division intends to continue to pursue these types of suits. This priority is consistent with recent activity, including a lawsuit the Department filed this week against the State of New York and one filed last month against several New Jersey cities.6
The final priority—efforts to strip naturalized U.S. citizens of their citizenship—marks a departure from the Division’s recent approach to this issue, which focused on individuals who posed national security threats, had committed war crimes or other human rights abuses, or had committed very serious felonies that were not disclosed during the naturalization process.7 The memorandum announces that “[t]he Civil Division shall prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.”8It then sets out ten different priority categories for denaturalization, including some (such as “individuals who engaged in fraud”) that could be very broad and conceivably could include individuals with mere misdemeanor convictions. Notably, the memorandum does not indicate that the criminal conduct at issue must have predated naturalization and been undisclosed. The Division therefore might target individuals who committed minor crimes after becoming citizens, where the Division can find some other basis to contend that citizenship was procured unlawfully. The memo does not signal, however, that the previously disbanded section dedicated exclusively to denaturalization (established in the final year of the First Trump Administration) will be re-constituted.
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WilmerHale will continue to monitor the Civil Division’s enforcement efforts and priorities, and we stand ready to assist clients in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Division. To assist clients and address issues relating specifically to the DOJ Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, we have established a False Claims Act Civil Rights Task Force. Our prior client alert about the Initiative can be found here. We are continuing to track developments relating to the DOJ Civil Rights Fraud Initiative and are available to provide guidance as the landscape evolves.
