The Justice Department is investigating D.C.’s jail

By John M. Fredericks

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation of the D.C. jail. Here's what that means, who runs the place, and what the city's auditor reported last year.

An Oct. 29 memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorizes the National Guard in D.C. to use up to 60 marked patrol cars, Humvees and other tactical vehicles, D.C. Guard boats, and up to 20 light towers and generators; a Pentagon official said the guidance supports federal and local law enforcement. At a hearing Thursday, Council member Brooke Pinto, who chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, called the deployment unnecessary and unlawful and asked the incoming Democratic governors of Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas to withdraw the 628 troops their states have sent.

Context  About 3,000 Guard members are in the city under a deployment President Trump ordered in August 2025, which is scheduled to run through January 2029; Guard members serve in a support role and do not make arrests on their own. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has challenged the deployment in court, and a three-judge federal appeals panel is weighing the case; Justice Department lawyers have argued it supports federal law enforcement and credited it with a drop in violent crime. Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll told the hearing he learned of the new equipment from a news article. Residents who testified were divided: a Chinatown resident said the Guard has deterred crime, while parents raised concerns about armed troops near schools. It is unclear whether the governors-elect can recall their units on their own, and none had responded to 7News as of Thursday night.

Fox News (via Yahoo News)  ·  WJLA 7News  ·  FOX 5 DC

The National Capital Planning Commission voted 8-4 late Thursday to approve final plans for a 250-foot arch at Memorial Circle, at the west end of Arlington Memorial Bridge near Arlington National Cemetery. Less than an hour later, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a 14-day temporary restraining order barring the administration from starting construction.

Context  The arch is backed by President Trump and estimated to cost about $100 million; the Interior Department had said work could begin right after a favorable vote. The commission's chair, White House official Mark Paoletta, said the arch completes a 1925 plan Congress authorized for the bridge's end, and commissioner Kevin Lilly, an Interior Department assistant secretary, said it "does not represent partisanship or politics." The attorneys general of D.C. and Virginia, Arlington County officials and three Vietnam veterans are suing; they argue the project lacks required approval from Congress and would affect traffic, safety, the cemetery and the historic view between Arlington and D.C.

The Washington Sun  ·  WJLA 7News (via KTVL)  ·  AP via NBC4 Washington

The city has asked the federal government to exempt residents of Wards 7 and 8 from Medicaid work requirements that take effect in January, arguing that each ward counts as a local area with unemployment above 8 percent, The Washington Sun reports. City officials say about 30,000 of the roughly 75,000 D.C. residents who could be subject to the rules live in those two wards.

Context  The requirements come from the 2025 federal tax and spending law, which Republicans named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They apply to adults ages 19 to 64 without children who qualify through the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, who must work, volunteer or train 80 hours a month or attend school at least half-time. The law allows hardship exemptions for counties with unemployment above 8 percent; in September, Ward 7 was at 9.5 percent, Ward 8 at 10 percent and the city as a whole at 5.6 percent. Deputy Mayor Wayne Turnage said the priority is that residents not "unnecessarily lose Medicaid coverage," while Council member Christina Henderson, who chairs the health committee, said the ward-only approach "creates inequities." About 260,000 D.C. residents are enrolled in Medicaid.

Lawyers for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith sent letters to all 82 Mississippi counties asking officials to keep affidavit ballots separate from other ballots, document each one and preserve them. Democrat Scott Colom's campaign answered Thursday with its own letter to the counties calling the demands "unlawful and extraordinary," saying state law does not allow counted affidavit ballots to be kept apart and raising voter privacy concerns.

Context  Colom led Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes late Wednesday, and the race has not been called. About 3,600 mail ballots were outstanding, affidavit ballots can be cured until Nov. 10, and counties must certify results by Nov. 13; the Magnolia Tribune cites unconfirmed reports of up to 18,000 affidavit ballots awaiting cure. State Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst said the letter is standard in a close election and meant to ensure no evidence is destroyed. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is sending legal and other resources to the state, according to Punchbowl News as cited by the Tribune.

WLOX  ·  Magnolia Tribune  ·  WDAM

President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday that votes for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a second candidate with the senator's name, and for another candidate should be "immediately given" to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, calling it the only fair solution. In Thursday's count, Democrat Mary Peltola led the senator by fewer than 1,000 votes, about 48.2 percent to 47.9 percent, with about 78 percent of estimated ballots counted.

Context  Under Alaska law, a candidate who wins a majority of the final count wins; if no one does, the ranked choices of voters who backed trailing candidates are redistributed, and the New York Daily News reports that Trump's proposal would conflict with that law. Republican Gerald Heikes was third with more than 4,800 votes and the second Sullivan last with about 3,600. Sen. Sullivan has called the second candidacy the "biggest cheating scandal in Alaskan history"; the Justice Department is investigating efforts to recruit that candidate, no one has been charged, and Peltola has denied knowing of any such effort.

New York Daily News (via Yahoo News)  ·  The National News Desk

Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into the 2022 leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overseen by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for D.C., according to reports citing people familiar with it. Newsweek, citing The New York Times, reports that prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas and contacted people who worked at the court when the draft was disclosed.

Context  The Dobbs ruling overturned Roe v. Wade; Politico published the draft before the decision was released. The court ran its own inquiry and announced in January 2023 that it could not determine who provided the draft. The Washington Examiner reports career prosecutors are mainly handling the case, and Newsweek notes some possibly applicable federal laws have five-year time limits that are approaching. The Justice Department declined to comment and said it would neither confirm nor deny an ongoing investigation.

Newsweek  ·  Washington Examiner  ·  FOX 5 DC

Friday, 9 a.m.  ·  Online (Zoom)

The city's Board of Accountancy holds a public meeting; the agenda is posted on the meeting page.

Saturday, 3 p.m.  ·  Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW  ·  Free

A National Geographic photographer and a wildlife journalist discuss their book of big cat photographs and the stories behind them.

Saturday, 12:30 p.m.  ·  Capital One Arena

The Capitals host the Panthers in a regular-season NHL game.