WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) applauded the Department of Justice’s (DOJ)’s filing to terminate the Obama-era consent decree. The end of the consent decree will finally allow local law enforcement officers to do their jobs and protect our communities.
“Radical anti-police liberals kneecapped Cleveland police officers for over a decade, allowing DC lawyers to rob taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars with obscene fees,” said Senator Moreno. “Their goal wasn’t police reform, it was police decapitation. Now President Trump has liberated the Cleveland Police Department, and I expect the Mayor to fully support the officers in their mission to clean up the city. Cleveland can’t wait for more posturing or politically correct statements.”
Background:
Since Senator Moreno was elected, he has been a leading voice in urging the termination of the Cleveland consent decree. In February 2025, Senator Moreno wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging the department to reexamine Cleveland’s Obama-era consent decree policy to help restore public safety to Cleveland and other cities plagued with decades-old consent decrees.
In March 2025, the out-of-state consent decree monitor, Karl Racine, had a drunken altercation at a Cleveland casino. Following consistent inappropriate and likely unethical behavior, Senator Moreno filed a complaint with the District of Columbia Bar Association urging an investigation and called for his removal. Racine subsequently resigned.
In November 2025, Senator Moreno wrote a letter to Attorney General Bondi requesting an update on the DOJ’s reexamination of the policy and praised the Department’s work overturning these costly polices that prevent law enforcement officers from doing their jobs.