Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the suspension of his office's Conviction Review Unit after the Trump administration declined to renew federal grant funding that supported the program. The unit, launched in 2020 and accepting case reviews from 2021, previously received $300,000 and a later $500,000 renewal. Ellison says the Justice Department denied further funding and framed the move as part of broader federal efforts to withhold funds from Democratic-led Minnesota amid controversial immigration enforcement actions.
Minnesota Suspends Conviction Review Unit After Federal Grant Denial; AG Blames Trump Administration
Attorney General Keith Ellison testifies during the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing investigating fraud in Minnesota state social services, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 4, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on July 1 that his office is suspending its Conviction Review Unit, which reviewed potential wrongful convictions. Ellison attributed the suspension to the Trump administration's refusal to renew federal grant funding that had supported the program, and said budget constraints prevented his office from absorbing the unit's costs without undermining other core responsibilities.
“Following the Trump Administration's refusal to renew federal grant funding that supported the program, my Office is suspending our Conviction Review Unit,” Ellison said in a statement.
Background
The unit was created in 2020 and began accepting applications to review cases in 2021. Ellison said the program initially received a $300,000 federal grant to cover the salary of an attorney for the first two years; that grant was later renewed at $500,000 for an additional two-year period. According to Ellison, the Department of Justice under the Trump administration denied the unit's request for further renewal.
Wider Context
Ellison framed the suspension as part of a broader pattern of federal actions targeting Democratic-led Minnesota. He pointed to recent immigration enforcement operations that deployed federal agents for deportation efforts. President Donald Trump has defended those operations as measures to improve domestic security and curb illegal immigration.
Civil rights groups have sharply criticized the enforcement actions, saying they raise concerns about free speech, due process and racial profiling, especially for ethnic minorities. Earlier this year, operations involving federal agents in Minnesota resulted in the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens, an episode that prompted large-scale protests.
Implications
Ellison said suspending the Conviction Review Unit was necessary to avoid compromising other core functions of the attorney general's office. The suspension will pause the unit's work on potential wrongful-conviction reviews while funding remains unavailable. The Justice Department's decision not to renew the grant was described by Ellison as the immediate cause of the suspension; the DOJ has not been quoted in this report.
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