In 2025, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights resolved approximately 30 percent fewer discrimination complaints than it had in the previous year, according to data obtained by The New York Times. This significant decline coincided with the Trump administration's systematic overhaul of the department's civil rights enforcement operations, signaling a deliberate shift away from investigating and resolving complaints filed by students and families alleging discrimination based on race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics under federal law.

The slowdown directly impacts students across the country who depend on federal civil rights protections. A child alleging racial discrimination in school discipline, a student with a disability seeking appropriate accommodations, or a transgender student facing exclusionary policies now faces a markedly longer wait for federal investigation and resolution. With the department processing 30 percent fewer cases, backlog times have extended, leaving complainants in legal limbo while their concerns remain unaddressed by the federal agency mandated to enforce their protections.

This enforcement pullback fits a broader pattern of civil rights retrenchment across the administration. The related investigation into Smith College's admissions policies, launched in May 2026, demonstrates the department's simultaneous willingness to scrutinize institutions over transgender inclusion—suggesting enforcement priorities have shifted from protecting vulnerable students from discrimination toward investigating programs that serve them. Rather than investigating complaints from marginalized students, the department now targets the colleges and schools attempting to provide inclusive policies.

The legal mechanisms driving this slowdown remain opaque. No executive order or formal directive has been publicly released explicitly ordering reduced case resolution. Instead, the decline appears to result from staffing reductions, operational restructuring, and reallocation of resources within the Office for Civil Rights. This administrative approach leaves the slowdown vulnerable to challenge but difficult to immediately reverse through litigation. Congressional appropriations committees hold some leverage to require maintained staffing and case processing, though enforcement depends on administration cooperation. A future administration could reinstate enforcement priorities and redirect resources to clear the accumulated backlog of unresolved discrimination complaints.