Kennedy introduces bill to rein in costly, open-ended federal court monitors

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the Monitor Accountability Act, legislation to set clear rules for federal court-appointed monitors that oversee state and local government agencies.

Federal courts often appoint monitors to track compliance with consent decrees or court orders involving state and local governments, including police departments. These monitors can review major policy changes, shape what compliance means, and influence how long local governments can remain under federal supervision.

Despite that power, court-appointed monitors operate with few statutory limits on their fees, tenure, or public accountability. The Monitor Accountability Act would add basic guardrails to help prevent monitorships from becoming expensive, indefinite arrangements that drain taxpayer dollars or undermine local control.

"Federal court monitors can serve an important purpose, but taxpayers should not have to fund open-ended monitorships that drag on for years without basic accountability. We basically let government contractors decide whether their own government contract keeps going. The Monitor Accountability Act would cap fees, limit terms and bring transparency to a system operating for far too long on autopilot," said Kennedy.

In Louisiana, New Orleans spent more than a decade under a federal consent decree governing the New Orleans Police Department. In 2013, the Eastern District of Louisiana appointed Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as the monitor after the Obama Justice Department and the City of New Orleans disagreed over which monitor to appoint. Shepard Mullin also happened to be the preferred choice of the Obama Administration.

The monitor's initial contract was structured as a four-year arrangement capped at $8.9 million. But the monitor repeatedly argued that New Orleans required longer supervision and the contract ultimately lasted roughly 12 years and cost taxpayers approximately $20 million. In 2022, New Orleans moved to terminate the consent decree, but the Biden Justice Department opposed the city's request. In 2025, the Trump Justice Department joined New Orleans in seeking to end the decree.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House passed H.R. 8365, the Monitor Accountability Act, on May 14, 2026.

Background:

The Monitor Accountability Act would apply to court orders affecting state and local governments to:

• Limit the amount of fees that court-appointed monitors collect.

• Prohibit the same monitor from serving for more than five years.

• Require a notice-and-comment period before a court appoints a monitor.

• Require annual public accounting of monitor costs and activities.

• Add transparency and accountability to federal monitorships.

Full text of the Monitor Accountability Act is available here.