In the last week the Trump administration issued new guidelines from the Justice Department that limit civil rights protections. The Justice Department would continue to enforce the Civil Rights Act protections, but only when it could prove intentional discrimination, not where the policies had a “disparate impact” on minority groups.
The Administration also gutted protections for birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty. It will only prosecute if the harm to birds was intentional. So, if the PennEast Pipeline cuts trees during nesting season, that would be ok, since the company did not intentionally set out to harm birds. An oil spill that killed thousands of birds would not be actionable, since the company did not intend to kill birds.
See Lisa Friedman, “In Parting Gift to Oil and Gas, Trump Limits Bird Protections,” New York Times, (Jan. 6, 2021), p. A15; and Katie Benner and Erica L. Green, “Justice Dept. Quietly Moves to Severely Narrow Civil Rights Protections,” New York Times, (Jan. 6, 2021), p. A21.
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