Enforcement of students’ civil‑rights protections has shifted following staff departures and leadership changes at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Career attorneys who handled school desegregation, seclusion, restraint and harassment cases have resigned or been reassigned, and advocates warn the administration is reprioritizing cases and narrowing interventions. Advocates point to high‑impact investigations in prior years—such as the Justice Department probe that led Maryland to ban seclusion—as examples of how federal enforcement drove state policy change. The current retrenchment could reduce federal leverage to enforce protections for students with disabilities and marginalized groups, prompting school lawyers, civil‑rights advocates and institutional counsel to reassess compliance strategies and voluntary remediation plans.