Ashley Moody on Criminal Justice: Votes Against Limiting the Justice Department's Settlement Fund, Confirming the Officials Who Dropped Police Abuse Cases, and the 2022 Voter Prosecutions

In June 2026 Florida Senator Ashley Moody voted four times against limits on the Justice Department's planned "anti-weaponization" settlement fund, which Trump would not rule out using to pay people who attacked Capitol police: a motion with instructions to bar its funding that failed 49 to 50, so a switch by Moody alone would have adopted it, and amendments to compensate the officers who defended the Capitol, to bar payouts to people convicted of certain crimes and to limit settlements. The fund was never set up: a judge froze it and Todd Blanche formally rescinded the plan in August 2026.

Moody voted to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi, civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Their Justice Department dropped its lawsuits over police abuses in Louisville and Minneapolis, declined a criminal civil rights investigation after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in Minnesota, and through the Bureau of Prisons delayed First Step Act transfers to halfway houses in most cases auditors reviewed. As Florida attorney general, Moody ran the office whose statewide prosecutor charged 20 people with illegal voting in 2022.

Ashley Moody's Votes and Confirmations on Police Accountability, Prisons and Reentry

• Moody Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Medicaid Work Requirement That Exempts People Leaving Prison for Only Three Months. On July 1, 2025, Ashley Moody voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote. The day before, she voted no on a motion to remove provisions that cut benefits through the creation of new administrative burdens and paperwork requirements. Under the law, the work requirement's only exemption tied to incarceration applies if, at any point during the 3-month period ending on the first day of such month, the individual was an inmate of a public institution, so after three months people leaving jail or prison must document 80 hours of work a month. On January 1, 2027, Medicaid work requirements are scheduled to take effect nationwide, and a 2018 study found former inmates were 40 times more likely than members of the general population to suffer a fatal overdose in the first two weeks after release.
• Moody Voted to Confirm the Officials Who Dropped the Police Abuse Cases in Louisville and Minneapolis. Ashley Moody voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general on February 4, 2025 and Harmeet Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights on April 3, 2025, when Dhillon was confirmed 52 to 45 with no Democratic votes. On May 21, 2025, Dhillon's division announced it was dismissing lawsuits against the Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis, Minnesota police departments and moved to retract the Biden administration's findings of constitutional violations at departments including Phoenix and Memphis. In Minneapolis, the court dismissed the case with prejudice, bringing federal oversight to an end despite the City's continued support for the agreement, Red Line for Civil Rights reported.
• Moody Voted to Confirm Todd Blanche, Whose Justice Department Declined a Civil Rights Investigation of the Renee Good Shooting. On March 5, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general, and he was confirmed 52 to 46. In August 2026 Moody cast the deciding vote to confirm Blanche as attorney general. In January 2026, after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in Minnesota, the Justice Department decided the Civil Rights Division would not conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting, prompting a wave of resignations from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office, according to Red Line for Civil Rights. In the Breonna Taylor case, In March 2026, DOJ moved to dismiss the remaining charges without explanation against two former Louisville officers.
• Moody Voted to Confirm the Attorney General Whose Bureau of Prisons Delayed First Step Act Releases. After Moody voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general, the Justice Department's Bureau of Prisons, which Bondi oversaw, fell behind on moving eligible people to halfway houses and home confinement. The Government Accountability Office found that the releases were delayed in 70% of cases reviewed, keeping people in prison past the dates the First Step Act made them eligible to leave, NOTUS reported. The bureau saw more than 1,400 corrections officers and other staff leave their positions in 2025, Filter reported, and it paid more than $387 million in overtime to staff in 2025.
• Moody Voted Four Times Against Limits on the Justice Department's Planned Settlement Fund, One of Them a Deciding Vote. On June 4, 2026, Moody voted no on Senator Chuck Schumer's motion to send S. 2 back to the Judiciary Committee with instructions that, the Congressional Record prints, could include barring the use of Treasury judgment money for the Anti-Weaponization Fund; the motion failed 49 to 50, so a switch by Moody alone would have adopted it. The same day she voted no on waiving budget rules for Senator John Hickenlooper's amendment To prohibit the distribution of Federal funds to individuals convicted of certain crimes, which failed 51 to 47 short of the 60 votes needed. On June 5 she voted against waiving budget rules for Senator Bill Cassidy's amendment to compensate law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, which failed 52 to 47, and against Senator Adam Schiff's amendment To provide for limitations on judgments, awards, and compromise settlements, which lost 51 to 48. Trump had backed the settlement fund while declining to rule out payouts to his family or people who attacked Capitol police, and At least 97 of the more than 1,500 individuals granted clemency by President Trump for January 6 have since faced other charges, Lawfare found. The fund was never created: a judge has frozen the fund’s formation, WHYY reported, and Blanche formally rescinded the plan in August 2026, so no payouts were made.
• Moody's Statewide Prosecutor Charged 20 People With Illegal Voting in 2022 and Her Office Kept Pressing the Cases. As Florida attorney general, Moody oversaw the Office of Statewide Prosecution, which sits Within the Attorney General's Office. In August 2022 that office charged 20 people with felony convictions with voting illegally; Miller and Hubbard filled out voter-registration applications in South Florida that the state processed. After judges dismissed cases because the statewide prosecutor lacked jurisdiction, Lawyers in Moody’s office filed a brief Wednesday arguing in December 2024 that the Florida Supreme Court should reject Terry Hubbard's appeal. The prosecutions put people who had been registered by the state at risk of new felony convictions; appeals courts revived the Miller and Hubbard cases in July 2024, and the Florida Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument for February 4, 2026 in Hubbard's case, with four other cases waiting on its outcome.

What the Retreat From Police Oversight and the Reentry Rules Mean in Florida Under Ashley Moody's Votes

• Voter prosecutions. Of the 20 Floridians charged in 2022, Two other cases were dismissed on similar grounds after the first dismissal, CBS News Miami reported; the people charged had their registration applications processed by the state, and four other cases were still waiting on the Florida Supreme Court in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ashley Moody on Criminal justice

Last updated: 2026-10-25

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