Coalition of 102 Civil Rights and Community Groups Urges Federal Court to Halt Justice Department’s Unlawful Elimination of the Community Relations Service

December 5, 2025

Boston, MA —The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 101 additional civil rights, faith, education, disability rights, and community organizations today filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts—urging the court to grant a preliminary injunction blocking the unlawful shuttering of the Community Relations Service (CRS) by the U.S. Department of Justice.

CRS—known as “America’s Peacemaker”—was created by Congress in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a standalone federal agency dedicated to mediating civil rights conflicts and helping communities navigate crises involving hate crimes. Congress expanded and reaffirmed CRS’s mission repeatedly for more than six decades, and it has been credited by police and community advocates alike with preventing violence and saving lives and property.

But on October 31, 2025, the Justice Department unilaterally eliminated CRS, withdrawing it from ongoing mediations, closing regional offices, and terminating staff positions that Congress funded to carry out CRS’s statutory duties. These actions occurred against the express direction of Congress and without legal authority—triggering fears of growing unrest and tensions in communities across the country.

CRS is not optional. Its work is mandated by federal law.

The coalition’s brief outlines how CRS’s statutory mandate—“to provide assistance in resolving disputes, disagreements, or difficulties arising from discriminatory practices”—cannot be erased by executive decision. Only Congress may alter or dissolve the agency it created.

Communities Are Already Being Harmed

With CRS shuttered, communities nationwide have lost the only federal mediators trained to respond to civil rights crises. The amici detail immediate and ongoing harm to:

• Black, Latino, Native and Indigenous, Asian American, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ communities experiencing hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents

• Police departments and local governments that partnered with CRS and community organizations to de-escalate tensions, prevent violence, and build trust during protests, civil unrest, and community trauma

• Students facing racial conflict, bullying, and discrimination—now deprived of CRS’s School-SPIRIT programs that teach peaceful conflict resolution

• Religious congregations left vulnerable amid increasing threats and attacks on houses of worship

• People with disabilities who relied on CRS’s rapid response to harassment and access-to-services disputes

Eliminating CRS is dangerous, unlawful, and leaves communities without the tools Congress intended them to have.

The signers of the brief emphasized that the Justice Department’s claim—that CRS’s only statutory obligation is to submit an annual report to Congress—openly ignores decades of Congressional action, statutory text, and the reality that CRS has long functioned as the federal government’s primary conciliator during civil rights and hate-crimes emergencies.

The Justice Department’s assertion that CRS’s mission could be fulfilled by a single employee in a different agency—and somehow replace the works of a national structure of regions and field offices funded by Congress for decades—is flatly false, impossible and in violation of the law.

Call to Action: Restore CRS Now

With CRS eliminated, communities nationwide are suffering—and will continue to suffer—unnecessary and avoidable harm. The court should enjoin DOJ’s unlawful elimination of CRS, a short-sighted decision that is not only contrary to law, but fundamentally wrong and against the nation’s interests.

About the Amici Coalition

The Coalition is led by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and includes additional 101 civil rights, educational, faith, disability rights, and public-safety organizations from 31 states and Washington, D.C., that highly value CRS and its services to mediate disputes, prevent violence, and build resilient, inclusive communities and, for many amici, have worked with and relied upon CRS’s services.