April 2025 — Timeline — Standing Record

Apr 28

Trump signed EO 14287, creating 'sanctuary jurisdiction' list and ordering agencies to identify federal grants for withholding

On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14287, "Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens," formally establishing a government-wide sanctuary jurisdiction designation-and-punishment mechanism. The order directed the Attorney General and DHS Secretary to publish a list of states and localities that obstruct federal immigration enforcement and instructed all federal department heads to identify grants and contracts flowing to listed jurisdictions "for suspension or termination." A federal court blocked the funding-withholding component within 11 days, ruling it could not be used as "an end run around" an existing preliminary injunction against earlier Trump sanctuary-city directives.

Apr 28

Trump signed EO 14288 directing DOJ to rescind police-reform consent decrees and threaten prosecution of local officials for DEI policing

On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14288, directing the Attorney General to review and rescind DOJ Civil Rights Division consent decrees with local police departments and to pursue prosecution of local officials whose DEI-based policing policies the administration deems unlawful. The EO also directed the Department of Defense to identify how military assets and personnel could be used for domestic crime prevention. Implementation was immediate: the Civil Rights Division dismissed pending consent decrees in Minneapolis and Louisville, retracted violation findings in six other cities, and approximately 70 percent of Civil Rights Division staff were expected to resign or be removed.

Apr 24

Trump signed EO 14284 requiring political appointees to certify retention of all probationary federal employees

On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14284 requiring political appointees to affirmatively certify the retention of all probationary and trial-period federal employees before they receive career tenure. Under the prior framework established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, new career employees automatically received tenure upon completing their probationary period without adverse action. The order made automatic separation the default in the absence of political-appointee certification, inserting a political approval gate over tenure for all competitive and excepted service employees across the executive branch.

Apr 24

Trump directed AG Bondi to investigate ActBlue while applying no scrutiny to Republican equivalent WinRed

On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in consultation with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to investigate alleged straw-donor and foreign-contribution violations at ActBlue, the dominant Democratic online fundraising platform. The directive cited a partisan House Republican investigation that examined only ActBlue and not WinRed, the structurally identical Republican equivalent. Democratic party leaders called the memo "designed to undermine democratic participation."

Apr 23

Trump signed EO 14281 directing all agencies to end disparate-impact enforcement, orders AG to repeal Title VI regulations

On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14281, "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy," directing all federal agencies to deprioritize enforcement of disparate-impact liability across housing, lending, employment, education, and healthcare "to the maximum degree possible." The order instructed the Attorney General to repeal or amend all Department of Justice regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that contemplate disparate-impact liability. Civil rights organizations described EO 14281 as the most sweeping rollback of federal civil rights enforcement since passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Apr 22

AG Bondi issued memo directing FBI and DOJ to investigate and prosecute gender-affirming care providers for minors

On April 22, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum titled "Preventing the Mutilation of American Children" directing the FBI to investigate gender-affirming care providers for criminal violations and directing DOJ's Consumer Protection Branch and Civil Division Fraud Section to pursue misbranding and False Claims Act cases against manufacturers and medical providers. The memo simultaneously announced the "Attorney General's Coalition Against Child Mutilation," a formal partnership with state attorneys general to coordinate criminal and civil enforcement against hospitals and practitioners. Gender-affirming care for minors was legal under federal law at the time the memo was issued.

Apr 21

EPA sent reduction-in-force notices eliminating 280 environmental justice and civil rights staff, shutting down the OEJECR

On April 21, 2025, EPA Assistant Deputy Administrator Travis Voyles sent reduction-in-force notices to 280 employees in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) and regional environmental justice divisions, with terminations effective July 31, 2025. An additional 175 employees performing statutory functions were reassigned within the agency. The action effectively closed the OEJECR — founded in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush and the primary federal enforcer of Title VI civil rights protections in environmental permitting — framed by EPA as terminating "Biden's environmental justice, DEI arms of the agency."

Apr 14

Interagency task force froze $2.2 billion in Harvard grants after university publicly refused White House demands

On April 14, 2025, the interagency Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the freeze of approximately $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts to Harvard University — announced the same day Harvard President Alan Garber publicly refused to comply with a package of White House demands delivered April 11. The demands called for governance reforms, merit-based admissions and hiring, closure of DEI programs, a mask ban targeting pro-Palestinian protesters, and cooperation with immigration authorities. A federal court later ruled that the Harvard funding campaign constituted unlawful retaliation for First Amendment-protected activity.

Apr 9

Trump signs EO 14263 targeting Susman Godfrey, suspending clearances and barring building access

On April 9, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14263, directing the suspension of security clearances for Susman Godfrey LLP employees, termination of all federal contracts with the firm, and restriction of firm employees from accessing federal buildings. The order cited the firm's diversity fellowship and its representation of clients in election-related and civil rights cases as justification, framing Susman's legal work as a national-security threat. Susman Godfrey, which had represented Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation lawsuit against Fox News over 2020 election coverage, filed suit to block the order within two days.

Apr 4

Trump signed EO 14258, second order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law

President Trump signed Executive Order 14258, "Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay," on April 4, 2025, directing the Department of Justice not to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act and extending the non-enforcement period to June 19, 2025. The order also retroactively immunized all past non-compliance dating back to January 19, 2025 — the statutory deadline — barring DOJ from ever taking enforcement action for violations during that period. It was the second consecutive executive order directing non-enforcement of the TikTok divestment statute, following EO 14166 issued on January 20, 2025.