Parents of kids with disabilities say they have waited months for the Education Department to address complaints of bullying or discrimination. Now, the department is offloading civil rights enforcement and special education, raising concerns about further chaos. On Tuesday, the Trump administration said the Department of Justice would take over civil rights enforcement in schools. The Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. Some advocates argue special education doesn't belong in a health department. The Education Department's civil rights office has been a last resort for parents whose kids have experienced discrimination, but under President Donald Trump, case backlogs have grown. Many families are now seeking justice elsewhere.

The federal government has asked a judge to halt the United States' first reparations program in Evanston, Illinois. The program, launched in 2021, offers Black residents $25,000 for past discrimination and the lingering effects of slavery. The U.S. Department of Justice called the program “racially discriminatory,” saying it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The program allots more than $20 million over 10 years to eligible residents for home repairs and property expenses. Reparations have been a contentious issue, with differing views on how to address historical injustices.

President Donald Trump’s administration is further dismantling the Department of Education, moving oversight of special education and civil rights to other agencies. The Department of Justice will take on enforcement of civil rights in education, while the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. Trump’s Republican administration made the announcement on Tuesday. The Department of Justice also will take over work protecting student privacy and will provide some training and advisory help to schools. Trump campaigned on shutting down the Education Department and moving education “back to the states,” but only Congress can close the department.

Under Trump administration, efforts to address deep-rooted inequities for students of color are being cast as discriminatory against white students. Civil rights lawyers describe the Republican administration’s actions as an inversion of legal history. The federal government long enforced civil rights laws with an eye toward remedying historic, systemic discrimination against Black people and other people of color. Programs that withstood legal scrutiny are now quick to be deemed “illegal” examples of diversity, equity and inclusion by the White House. Schools that fail to comply have faced threats to their funding and in some cases have lost federal grants.

The Supreme Court has ruled for a Black death row inmate from Mississippi who claims there was racial bias in the makeup of the jury that convicted him. By a 5-4 vote Thursday, the justices sided with Terry Pitchford, who was sentenced to death for his role in the killing of a grocery store owner in northern Mississippi. There were 11 white jurors and one Black juror in a trial with similarities to that of another Black man on Mississippi’s death row, whose conviction the high court overturned seven years ago. If Pitchford's conviction is overturned, the state could seek to retry him. Pitchford's lawyer says he's “entitled to a fair trial.”

The South Carolina Senate has rejected President Donald Trump’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts in hopes Republicans could gain an extra seat. The proposal passed the South Carolina House on May 20 after two days of long debate. But senators rejected the effort Tuesday, as early in-person voting got underway for the state's June 9 primaries. Some senators said it was simply too late to make a change. Others worried the move could backfire and get an extra Democrat elected to the U.S. House. The proposal would have scheduled a special primary in August for the new congressional map.

President Trump has announced that the U.S. is admitting 10,000 additional white South Africans as refugees, citing persecution in their home country. This decision comes as the administration blocks refugees from other countries. Trump suspended the refugee program on his first day in office and has agreed only to allow in Afrikaners, a group of white South Africans. Advocates say this focus leaves others fleeing war with few options. The South African government calls the claims of discrimination baseless. The State Department has approved more than 6,000 refugees through the program since October, overwhelmingly from South Africa. Resettlement groups are suing to allow stranded refugees to come to the U.S.